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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25091578">Boys Don't Dance</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubbleOJoy/pseuds/BubbleOJoy'>BubbleOJoy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abusive Parent, Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, Dancer Nico di Angelo, Depression, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Jock Will Solace, M/M, POV Nico di Angelo, Physical Abuse, School Project, Slow Burn, Verbal Abuse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:13:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>36,500</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25091578</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubbleOJoy/pseuds/BubbleOJoy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico di Angelo is hated and bullied in his school, known to many as the 'emo' kid. Unbeknownst to everyone around him, he's a phenomenally talented dancer. For years, he uses dancing as an escape from his miserable life and sorry excuse for a father; it's hard, but he manages to keep his little secret. </p><p>However, when he gets paired up with annoying jock, Will Solace, he starts finding it harder and harder to hide his dancing. </p><p>What's worse, Will isn't as callous as he thought, and Nico starts to feel things around him that he only feels when dancing. The excitement, the energy, the emotion... Nico's world starts to fall apart all over again, and it's entirely Will's fault.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Nico di Angelo/Will Solace</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>124</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>282</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Piccola Ballerina</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello, hello, everyone! This is my first posted work on this server, so I really hope you enjoy it - please, if you have any spelling corrections or general constructive criticism, don't hesitate to let me know :D</p><p>As someone who's been a dancer for many years, I know what kind of peace it can bring to a person, so I wanted to explore the same peace from Nico's perspective. Please enjoy!</p><p>(P.S: I'm British, so don't hate on the spelling differences xx)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Mama!" a voice screeched across the hall. Maria di Angelo looked up from her book to see her daughter, all dressed up in her ballet tutu, stomping over to the side of the hall where she sat.</p><p>"Whatever is the matter, Bianca? You have thunder for a face!" Maria let out a soft chuckle, ignoring the fiery look she was getting from the eight-year-old.</p><p>"It's Nico," she wailed. "He's ruining my lesson!" She turned around and jabbed towards a small boy in the middle of the dance hall. </p><p>He had dark black hair that matched his sister's and a cheeky grin on his pudgy little face. The tiny tot had popped himself in the middle of the dance lesson and was trying to copy the older girls around him, earning coos and giggles from the other mums in the room. Maria just shook her head.</p><p>"He's only six, <em>mio caro </em>. He likes dancing with his big sister," she smiled gently at Bianca. "Just let him be." The grumpy ballerina just scoffed and stomped away to rejoin her lesson, shooting evil glances at her brother, who was now poorly attempting to do a pirouette.</p><p>Maria sighed as she went back to reading her book.</p><p>She didn't know quite what to do with that little troublemaker of hers; every dance lesson of Bianca's she brought him to, Nico, without fail, begged to join in. For such a young age, he really did try hard when it came to dancing. Maria suspected he just wanted to jump around and have fun with the older kids, but it was curious that he attained such enjoyment from the classes. She glanced up to see him giggling wildly as one of the older girls showed him how to point his foot properly.</p><p>She knew that it wasn't uncommon for boys to take dance lessons; where she grew up in Italy, lots of young boys took to dancing in their childhood. She'd thought about signing Nico up for lessons many times, yet there was always that nagging worry... even if the other kids Nico's age didn't tease him about it, Maria knew his father would never stand for it. She shuddered at the thought.</p><p>As the class came to an end, the di Angelo children came running up to their mum. Maria gave them both a kiss on the cheek and told them what good dancers they were. Little baby Nico started to giggle, but Bianca cut him off. "No! <em>I'm</em> a good dancer, not him. Nico doesn't do dancing. He just tags along even though he's not in the class. Mama, make him stop!"</p><p>Maria looked at her son. At Bianca's shouting, his dark eyes began to shine and his lip quivered. Seeing how sad he looked now compared to the happy grin from earlier... Maria swallowed down a lump in her throat and smiled.</p><p>"Well, if he likes to join in so much, why don't I go speak to your teacher. Maybe we can get him signed up for proper lessons."</p><p>After a moment of realisation, little Nico broke out in a ray of squeals, screaming "<em>Lo ballo! Lo ballo!</em>" over and over. Bianca stamped her foot, crying to her mother that it wasn't fair. Despite her arguing, Mrs di Angelo pulled aside the dance teacher and, as hoped, managed to sign Nico up for lessons.</p><p>It was only on the drive home that she realised exactly what she'd done.</p><p>What was she thinking? As much as Nico loved to dance, she couldn't let him do this. If his father found out that his only son was taking up dancing... well, she didn't doubt that he might hurt the boy. Her husband wasn't exactly the kindest man and wasn't overly openminded either.</p><p>"Children, I need you to promise me something," she called to the two strapped into their car seats in the back. "Don't tell your father about Nico joining the dance lessons. It'll be our little secret, okay?"</p><p>Bianca opened her mouth to dispute, but slowly closed it again. "Okay, I promise." No matter how much disdain she harboured towards her younger brother for stealing her dance lessons, Bianca knew that her father was much, much worse. Maria thanked that, although she was young, Bianca was competent enough to understand when things need to stay concealed.</p><p>"Nico? You promise, <em>soldatino </em>? It'll be our secret." Maria hesitated, worried he didn't quite understand.</p><p>Nico pressed a finger to his mouth and made a shushing noise. "Secret dancing. Just mama and Bi." He giggled once more.</p><p>Maria let out a shaky breath and smiled. She felt unimaginable guilt fall over her; in doing this, she was signing Nico up for a lifetime of secrecy, teaching him to hide the kind of person he is. Slowly, she tried to remember the beaming laugh on Nico's face, assuring herself that she did the right thing for her baby boy.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Italian Translations:</p><p>Piccola Ballerina = Little Ballerina<br/>Mio caro = My dear<br/>Lo ballo = I dance<br/>Soldatino (as if I need explain) = Toy soldier/little soldier</p><p>I speak seven languages currently, but Italian is my newest - I'm not proficient at all! If you're a better speaker than I am and notice I made a mistake, please correct me! Thanks :D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Schiantarsi</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>As Nico grows older, he discovers he's extremely talented at his dancing. Despite the fact that living with his father makes life difficult, he's happy being able to dance... until something goes wrong.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello, hello! Firstly, I hope you are all safe and well. If virtual flowers were a thing, I'd give you each one :) Secondly, I hope you enjoy this next chapter. Italian translations are in the footnotes &lt;3</p><p>If you have any constructive criticism or spelling/grammar corrections, don't hesitate to let me know so I can update the work! :D</p><p>(Again, I'm British; ignore any spelling differences xx)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Come on, Nico! We're going to be late for football!" </p><p>Nico hurried about his room as he tried desperately to find his left shoe. Finally, after rifling through his sock drawer, he found what he was looking for and, tripping over the mess he'd created whilst searching, he grabbed his duffel bag and rushed downstairs where his mum was waiting.</p><p>"Sorry! Couldn't find my shoe," he panted, shrugging on his jacket. Maria just rolled her eyes at the disorganised mess that was her son and beckoned for him to follow his sister out the door.</p><p>Together, they both froze slightly as they heard a voice call from the kitchen. "Funny thing to lose, a football boot," came the drawling chuckle. "We must sort out your organisation problem, <em>giovanotto</em>."</p><p>Nico swallowed. "Yes, father. Silly me." He and his mum exchanged a look of panic before rushing out to the car where Bianca was waiting.</p><p>Of course, Nico didn't actually play football; he had been looking for his ballet shoes, not football boots. </p><p>Together with his mum and sister, he'd been able to keep his dancing a secret for four years, but he still felt a wave of fear cast over him whenever his father, Hades, questioned his football lessons. Once, he'd asked to come with Nico to watch him practice - something he never thought his <em>loving </em> father would ever do - and Nico nearly died trying to dissuade him. His mum had taught him early on that his father, being the frightening man he is, would not react well to Nico's sport of choice.</p><p>He didn't mind the secrecy though. As long as he could keep dancing, he was happy.</p><p>Nico di Angelo loved to dance more than anything in the world. Dancing gave him a sense of freedom that he just didn't have at home. It was exciting and energising, and one could convey so much emotion without saying a word; Nico thought it was brilliant.</p><p>Not only that, but he was good at it. <em>Really </em>good at it. He wasn't confident when it came to most things... but dancing wasn't most things.</p><p>Today, for example, was a ballet lesson. Nico took lessons in ballet, tap, street, contemporary, the whole works, but ballet was one of his favourites; all the cool jumps and turns were found in ballet. Leaps, jumps, pirouettes... everything like that came naturally to Nico, which is why he liked them best.</p><p>His teacher, Miss Hestia Hearth, knew this about him. Today, she asked him to come up and demonstrate fourteen consecutive fouettés moving into a grande jeté, an impressive collection of moves when done correctly. As expected, Nico demonstrated with extraordinary grace and posture, earning a round of applause after.</p><p>"Very nice, Nico," Miss Hestia commented. "I'd like to see straighter legs on that jeté, though." Nico noted her advice with a grin and went to sit back down with the others.</p><p>As he was having a sip of water, a bulky girl with long brown hair, about Bianca's age, came over to him. "Hey, Nico," she said as she plopped down next to him. "That was really good, your exercise." </p><p>Nico smiled in return, turning a slight shade of pink. "Thanks, Reyna. I like my turns," he giggled. "It's just a bit of fun, you know?"</p><p>"A bit of fun? Dude, I've never seen someone dance as you do!" She laughed, shoving his shoulder with a look of disbelief on her face. "Bianca says you've only been dancing for, what, four years." </p><p>Nico nodded. "Since I was six, yeah." Reyna scoffed. </p><p>"To get as good as you are with only four years of training... you have natural talent, kid." Nico blushed harder and giggled again.</p><p>He often had people telling him he was talented... which he was. Reyna was right: very few people managed to be as good as he was in so little time. He tried not to let it go to his head, but he sat up a little straighter with every compliment he got. He liked being good at what he loved, there's no shame in that.</p><p>After the lesson was done, he grabbed Bianca and ran over to where his mama was waiting for him. "Mama, did you see? Did you like my spins?" He beamed up at her. She laughed and ruffled his hair.</p><p>"I did, <em>soldatino</em>! You were amazing!" She kissed his forehead. "And, Bianca, your assemblés were fantastic!" Bianca beamed alongside Nico.</p><p>She was twelve now and, like Nico, was really good at dancing. She'd learned over time to let her brother into her dance lessons without too much of a fuss after seeing how much he enjoyed it and how good he was. Now, they danced together like a dream duo. As much as Nico loved to dance, he loved to dance with his sister even more.</p><p>"Now,<em> bambini</em>. If you guys are ready, we need to rush off." Nico saw realisation dawn on Bianca's face as she looked at the time.</p><p>"I forgot my teacher conference was today! Will I have time to change, mama?"</p><p>"Hmm... maybe if you change in the car. We have to swing by home to drop off Nico, so we can grab you some clothes, then we'll head on down to school."</p><p>Nico rolled his eyes. "And <em>I'm </em>the disorganised one!"</p><p>The trio laughed as they loaded into the car. The whole drive home, Nico buzzed with happiness. Even though their home wasn't always a pleasant place for him, he was so lucky to have his dance lessons; he, Bianca, and his mum all got a flash of peace when they went to that dance hall and it was nice, if only for a moment, to indulge in said peace.</p><p>Alas, a moment is just that: a moment. It seemed all too soon that Nico was home and his mum and sister were driving off, the peaceful air simmering away.</p><p>He pottered around his room for a bit. Waiting. He tidied away his dance stuff, making sure he knew where everything was this time, and took a shower. Waiting. He got dressed and thumped down on his bed, digging out some homework. Waiting.</p><p>There was a knock on the door.</p><p>There it was. Nico knew it was only a matter of waiting for his father to come to talk to him; when Maria wasn't around to tell him how 'football' went, he turned to Nico himself.</p><p>"<em>Come è stata la pratica del calcio</em>?" There was that drawling voice, slow and menacing. His dad's voice reminded him of Professor Snape, although he'd never say that to his face.</p><p>"<em>Sì, è stato buono.</em>"</p><p>Apparently, 'good' wasn't a detailed enough answer. "<em>Buono? È tutto?</em>"</p><p>Nico swallowed. "<em>Sì. È stato divertente. Buono</em>." He didn't know what else to say. There was a reason why his mum dealt with this on any other given day; Nico wasn't a very good liar.</p><p>Hades furrowed his eyebrows at the boy. "<em>Non pago una fortuna ogni settimana perché tu ti 'diverta'! </em> " Nico flinched as his voice grew louder." <em> Mi aspetto che tu stia sviluppando un'abilità. Faresti meglio a prenderlo sul serio, giovanotto, o </em>-"</p><p>The doorbell rang, saving Nico from his father's rant about 'taking these things seriously'.</p><p>His father glared at him before turning on his heel to go answer the door. Once he heard the door crack open, Nico quietly followed, tiptoeing across the carpet, wanting to see who was ringing the doorbell at seven o'clock at night. It wasn't mama, because she took her keys, although she was due home right about now.</p><p>Peering out from behind the bannister, trying not to be noticed, Nico could just about see two men standing in the doorway in front of his father. He couldn't hear quite what they were saying, but it seemed important. As Nico began to inch closer, trying to catch some of their words, his father moved aside to let the men in. Nico's tummy got very heavy as they stepped inside.</p><p>They were two police officers, both wearing black police vests and quiet, solemn expressions.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Italian Translations:</p><p>Schiantarsi = Crashing<br/>Giovanotto = Young man<br/>Soldatino = Toy soldier/little soldier<br/>Bambini = Children</p><p>Come è stata la pratica del calcio? = How was football practice?<br/>Sì, è stato buono. = Yeah, it was good.<br/>Buono? È tutto? = Good? That's all?<br/>Sì. È stato divertente. Buono. = Yeah. It was fun. Good.<br/>Non pago una fortuna ogni settimana perché tu ti 'diverta'! = I don't pay a fortune every week for you to just have 'fun'.<br/>Mi aspetto che tu stia sviluppando un'abilità. = I expect you to be developing a skill.<br/>Faresti meglio a prenderlo sul serio, giovanotto, o... = You'd better take this seriously, young man, or...</p><p>~</p><p>Again, I have only recently taken up Italian and, whilst I've written these sentences myself, I'm sure there are little mistakes. If you're a better Italian speaker than me and would like to update/correct my sentences, please let me know!</p><p>Thanks again for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Sentimenti Vuoti</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello hello! I hope you're all having a lovely day! If not, I'm very sorry to hear that - do feel free to message me if you need someone to chat to :)</p><p>Thank you for tuning in - it means so much! Please let me know if you have any ideas/corrections/spelling mistakes and (once again) I am British, so ignore any spelling differences &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Hey! Watch it, di Angelo!" Nico grimaced as someone knocked into his shoulder, almost shoving him to the ground. He swallowed down his anger and kept walking.</p><p>Getting shoved in the corridor was certainly not the worst of Nico's troubles; it wasn't unusual for the kids as this school to bully Nico mercilessly for literally no reason whatsoever. People hated him here just <em>because</em>.</p><p>After his mum and sister died in a car accident six... nearly seven years ago, Nico's father moved them away to a different part of the country; they couldn't afford to stay where they were and needed a quick downsize. Unfortunately, the place Hades found for them to live just happened to be the biggest dump Nico had ever been to. The crime rate was through the roof, the houses were small and falling apart, and the school was full of lousy douchebags that felt it necessary to pick on anyone they deemed inferior to themselves.</p><p>Nico hated it from the moment they arrived.</p><p>He trudged along the hallway, making sure to stick close to the wall, making his way to his next class. His boots clunked along with him as he walked, but no one seemed to notice. He kept his head down.</p><p>Nico looked completely different now compared to when he was a kid; as opposed to the bright colours his mum used to dress him in, he now wore all black clothing: skinny jeans, scruffy top and a dark combat jacket. His hair was the same colour that it's always been, but now the inky black served to intensify his colourless look. His ears were pierced to the high heavens and he tried to make his vibe as threatening as possible.</p><p>It wasn't like he had a choice; he closed himself off from everyone else just because it was easier, safer for him. He found that, if he wore dark clothes, didn't talk to anyone, and kept his head down, he stood a chance of blending in with the background, passing unnoticed. It was a pitiful existence, but he did what he had to do.</p><p>Once he'd found his classroom, he sat down at his desk in the back of the room for his last lesson of the day, Spanish. Totally blanking out his teacher, he gazed longingly at the clock on the wall. He never paid attention anymore in school, hence why his grades were dropping rapidly; he just didn't see the point.</p><p>All he could do was follow the clock and doodle absentmindedly in his notebook, praying for the end of the day. He disregarded the wad of paper that hit him in the side of the head and the giggles that followed; Leo Valdez and his crowd of girls always tried to get a rise out of Nico in Spanish. Nico just kept on doodling, watching that clock. 3:30. Ten more minutes.</p><p>In his book, he drew a dog with three heads, like from the myths. Nico always fancied those underworld mythology stories, especially the story of Cerberus. The hound he drew was a Rottweiler, snarling with all three sets of jowls. He glimpsed back up to the clock. 3:37. Come on. Come on...</p><p>At the sharp peeling of the bell, Nico seized his stuff and hurried out of the classroom. It was all he could do not to sprint through the corridors in his haste. One can hardly blame him; Nico had one thing in his life that he actually cared for and, by the Gods, was he going to run to it.</p><p>His class started at 5 o'clock, but the hall was a two-hour walk away; running was inevitable. He knew he could get a lift from Piper or Annabeth - they were the only two people there who also went to his school - but he wasn't friends with either of them. The agreement was that he left them alone if they didn't... tell. </p><p>Because of this, Nico ended up having to jog the notably long distance about four times a week. You'd think that after six years of this he'd have built up some sort of running stamina, right? Wrong. When he finally made it to the huge building with only five minutes to spare, he was spluttering and panting, gasping for air. Running was definitely <em>not </em>his strong suit.</p><p>After pushing through the large glass double-doors and rushing down to the changing rooms, he punched in the code to his locker and grabbed his clothes to change. He figured it was safer for him to keep his gear here, you know... just in case. He pulled on a pair of joggers and a loose grey top; it was street today, so he needn't wear anything fancy.</p><p>As usual, the excited buzz in his ears grew louder as he scurried into the main hall. Along the sides, groups of girls were stretching gratuitously and, although they all acted like friends, Nico could see the daring looks behind their narrowed eyes, squinting at anyone with the audacity to be more flexible than them. He shook his head, marvelled by the politics they devise.</p><p>He tossed his water bottle down at the other end of the room, away from the competitive gaggle, as his teacher, Mellie, called them together for a warm-up. Frankly, he figured running down here was all the warm-up he needed, but he complied; he'd rather that than tear a muscle.</p><p>As he began to jump, get his feet moving, he started to get that familiar tingle... the feeling of strength and power. The heat burning at his cheeks, bringing some colour to that pale face of his. Of course, he knew what this was: this was freedom. After spending the better half of the day sad and alone, the weight lifting off his shoulders was blissful.</p><p>No matter how bad it got, things would always be okay because he still had his <em>dancing </em>.</p><p>A few weeks after relocating here, Nico had spotted an advert for the dance studio in a shop window. Using the money his dad still - <em>reluctantly </em>- gave him to keep going with 'football', he'd approached the dance teacher secretly after school one day asking for lessons. </p><p>Thankfully, Mellie was a pleasant enough woman who was intrigued by Nico's talents; she was more than happy to sign him up for lessons. Whilst he hadn't got quite the same reception from the other kids at the dance school, mainly because he would be the only boy there, he still praised the Gods every day that he'd found a way to keep dancing. Nico didn't know what he would've done had he not.</p><p>He'd kept going with all his dance areas, but today was solely street dance. Although he was best at his ballet, Nico loved street dance. At the start of each lesson, Mellie would have each of them go up to the front for improvisation; she argued that being able to invent on the spot is one of your most valuable skills in street dance. The girls hated it, saying it was too hard to think of good moves in so little time. Thankfully, Nico didn't have that problem; he always had movement in his mind, a constant rhythm of dance.</p><p>He never said that out loud though. The girls disliked him enough as it was. Surprisingly, the fact that he was both confident and talented with regards to his dance only got him nasty comments and glaring looks; he could guess it was just the competitive nature of this dance school, but he kept his distance from them anyway.</p><p>Finally, when it was his turn to go up to the front, he jumped up with haste, filled with energy. He moved into the centre of the hall and stared into the mirrors in front of him. His reflection stared back, looking just as excited as Nico was. Mellie looked him up and down for a moment, thinking, before selecting 'Believer' by Imagine Dragons from her playlist. Nico closed his eyes, listening to the pulse of the music and, as the verse came in, started to move.</p><p>Now, in ballet, you act much like a river. There's clear movement, a crisp direction to everything, yet your actions flow, seemingly effortless. In some places, it's soft, and hard in others. You have to think about each and every movement. Beneath the waves, there is life; there's a purpose to everything.</p><p>Street was different from ballet. </p><p>Nico worked to keep his moves sharp, defined, dancing without thoughts or signals from his brain. It was clear to him where the dark and light parts of the song were, where to make his feet heavy and where to lift himself up. It made sense in a different way to ballet, holding a different kind of power.</p><p>Twists, turns, locking and contorting, isolation; Nico found he could fit so many elements into this piece of art, an endless surplus of possibilities. He often found in street dance that he knew when to back off, make his actions calm and languid, where others might not; it gave him a unique dynamic. He loved the feeling of getting it right, having no plan at all yet knowing exactly where he was going.</p><p>As the song came to an end, Nico's mind drifted back to the room as he came out of his trance. The people around him became visible once more and, eventually, Nico remembered that he needed to breathe. He could hear the distant sound of half-hearted clapping, muffed by the drumming in his ears, as he went to sit back down, blind to the jealous looks of spite being thrown in his direction.</p><p>Sitting there, out of breath, hot and sweaty, exhausted, and simply overflowing with energy, Nico smiled for the first time that day.</p><p>~</p><p>He left the studio in a daze, his eyes adjusting to the dark night after the bright lights of the dance hall. The other dancers waiting for their rides didn't wave goodbye to him and Nico returned the favour. Instead, he shoved his headphones in his ears and started walking off towards his house.</p><p>Walking home was his only option. Evidently, no one at the dance school ever wanted to give him a lift home, despite the fact he lived almost three hours away, and he couldn't as well ring his dad to come and pick him up. The best he could do was suck it up and trudge home on foot. It was a long journey, freezing on nights like this, but Nico didn't mind too much. He used these late-night walks home as his thinking time.</p><p>As he walked, he choreographed along with the song he was listening to; imagining the kicks and jumps, the twists, he could barely keep his feet on the ground. Once, he got a little too into it and did a sort of convoluted jolt as he walked, knocking the headphones out of his ears. Blushing bright red, he quickly checked around him to make sure no one was watching. Luckily, he was completely alone in the street.</p><p>Life often felt like that; Nico would look around to see if anyone was watching him, if anyone cared, but no one ever was. It was like he lived on his own little planet, cut off from everyone else. Occasionally, he wondered if anyone would notice if he disappeared; if he just up and left or... well, <em>left</em>, he doubted it'd make a difference. It was a sad thought, which is why he didn't dwell on it too much. As his mother constantly said, "<em>è male pensare troppo alle cose cattive </em>".</p><p>Instead of putting his headphones back in his ears, Nico decided to listen to the quiet for a bit. He was so pumped up and awake from dancing, he needed to take a minute to cool down. He paid particular attention to the trivial things in the street, the things most people don't normally notice; the distinctive shade of green on the trees that framed the road, the birds that fluttered overhead amongst the dappled twilight. Nico sighed wistfully.</p><p>He wished he could spend all day like this, just alone with his thoughts. He could choreograph and dance in the mornings, then spend the evenings like this, amongst the birds and the trees. It was a sad thought because nothing like that could ever happen for Nico. Life was too cruel. Alas, just as before, he shook away the thought, because '<em>è male pensare troppo alle cose cattive</em>'.</p><p>He tried not to feel sad when he rounded the corner and spotted his run-down house. Slipping his key into the lock, he cracked open the door as silently as he could, trying desperately not to make his presence known to his dad, and tiptoed upstairs to his bedroom.</p><p>It took a long time, and then a bit longer, for him to eventually fall asleep, both unaware and unprepared for what the next day would bring.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Italian Translations:</p><p>Sentimenti Vuoti = Empty Feelings<br/>È male pensare troppo alle cose cattive = It's bad to think too much about bad things</p><p>~</p><p>I hope you guys liked this chapter! Will shall be making an appearance in the next chapter; thank you for waiting so patiently &lt;3</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Quei Giorni</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello, hello! It's lovely to see you all again! I wish everyone a pleasant weekend :)</p><p>Thank you so much for all your lovely comments! It really makes me happy to hear such positive feedback - please, if you'd like to see specific things in this story, please don't hesitate to let me know; I'm taking everything into account!</p><p>Once again, ignore the British differences (that fateful 'U' in everything...) and please enjoy this next chapter &lt;3</p><p>~</p><p>Please note! This story is going to delve into some physical and verbal abuse, starting mildly in this chapter. Please do be careful if you're sensitive to such things; I wouldn't want anyone to feel distressed xx</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>His dream was beautiful. </p><p>There had been these fields of green and gold, with nothing but open space for miles. He'd been with Bianca, the two of them dancing freely together. The dream was perfect, laced with comfort, so you can envision Nico's anger when he was snapped out of sleep by his phone alarm.</p><p>Rooting around under his pillow, his fingers wrapped around the damned thing and tried to shut off the disruptive buzzing as quickly as possible. He hit the snooze button and threw his phone to the other end of his room, but the damage was already done; he was awake and his happy dream world was gone.</p><p>Groaning and stretching, he lugged himself out of bed, hearing to the satisfying <em>pop</em> of his stiff bones as moved. He didn't have the energy for a shower, so he ran his fingers through his hair, hoping it'd have the same effect. Once again, he opted for his usual black aesthetic, skinny jeans with studs along the waist and a ripped T-shirt.</p><p>He feet padded along the carpet as he made his way downstairs. Due to a very large yawn mid-way down the flight, he nearly slipped over a bottle that was lying on the stairs. Steadying himself on the bannister, he noticed a trail of said bottles leading to the hallway. He grimaced. Today was <em> that  </em>kind of day.</p><p>He listened for a moment. He could hear his father in the kitchen shuffling dishes, but couldn't yet tell the state of his temper; the drunken mornings were always the most unpredictable. Part of him wanted to skip breakfast altogether and head straight to school, but he knew he'd get trouble for it later. Reluctantly, he quietly shuffled into the kitchen.</p><p>Mr di Angelo was standing over the sink. Nico's father looked a lot like him: the same black hair and pale skin, the same nose, the same dark eyes. Even though Nico had had his growth spurt about a year back and now stood at roughly six feet tall, his dad still loomed over him, casting a dark adumbration wherever he went.</p><p>"<em>A che ora sei tornato a casa ieri sera</em>?"</p><p>Nico blinked at the question. "Um..."</p><p>"I said," Hades spat, thrusting down the dish in his hands. "What time did you get home?"</p><p>Nico swallowed. His dad didn't have a problem with him coming home so late; when he'd explained that it was because of 'football', Hades stopped complaining, and it'd been that way for years. He blinked again and lowered his eyes.</p><p>"Half nine, maybe ten," he whispered, hesitantly. "I'm not sure. I'm sorry. I -" He wavered when Hades slammed his fist down on the counter by the sink. Nico didn't know to say; the best he could do was stand there, frozen. Hades went back to washing his dishes in silence.</p><p>If you've never had someone angrily wash a dish at you, you wouldn't understand the tension Nico felt hanging in the air. The days when every action was unexplained, unpredictable, were especially frightening; there were times when his father was scarier when he didn't speak or do anything, leaving Nico enduringly on edge.</p><p>After what simultaneously felt like an instant and an eternity, Hades trained back on Nico, who was still suspended as though he were stuck in headlights.</p><p>"Why are you just standing there? Don't you have anything to say?"</p><p>There was nothing he <em>could </em>say, but his father didn't even give him the chance.</p><p>"No?<em> Figlio ingrato</em>. <em>Sai quanto lavoro duro per </em><em>te</em>? I don't want you coming home that late anymore. <em>Ci sono persone là fuori; potresti farti male.</em>" He threw his hands in the air, making Nico flinch. "It's like you want to get hurt. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?"</p><p>Nico didn't understand what he was saying; everything was garbled and Nico couldn't piece together his words. He opened his mouth to speak, but only a feeble squeak came out.</p><p>Hades scoffed and swayed back to the sink. "Oh, great. Now you're going to cry. I thought you were better than that. Besides, it's your own fault for starting this argument. Just because I'm trying to be a good parent, doesn't mean -"</p><p>Finally, Nico couldn't do it anymore. He forced himself to snap out of his frozen state and bolted from the room. He left the house without his school stuff, without any food, and started running down the street.</p><p>He didn't stop sprinting until he was considerably far from his house. When he was assured he was free of danger, he slowed down to catch his breath.</p><p>As far as mornings go, today had been a heavy failure; why didn't he say anything? He knew him standing there like a blubbering lemon would only make things worse for his dad, but he just physically could not do anything else. Even though he was sure he didn't do anything wrong, he knew he would have to apologise when he got home at the end of the day. The thought made Nico groan. </p><p>On the plus side, he had two hours worth of contemporary dance after school to give him the strength he needed for such a confrontation. He felt a little better knowing that.</p><p>It was at that point that he realised he wasn't wearing any shoes. Wincing, he pulled one of his socks off to see how badly the pavement had scrapped his foot. </p><p>Nico, unluckily, had dancer's feet, meaning the decade of dancing made it look as though he took steroids to beef up the muscles in his feet. Because of this, the tarmac hadn't scrapped them up too badly (his poor toes had endured much worse), but it still hurt to continue the walk to school barefoot.</p><p>Slowly, he trudged onward, a sour taste in his mouth. He needed to find some shoes to wear when he got there, or else the likes of Percy and Jason would have a field day. When he eventually made it, he made a bee-line for the gym office to borrow a pair of trainers from lost property.</p><p>The PE teacher there, Coach Hedge, always seemed to approve of Nico, even though he didn't take any sports at the school. It was roughly a year or two after Nico joined the school; one day, the Coach suddenly took a liking to the boy, always giving him a curious glance when he thought he wasn't looking. </p><p>In all honesty, it was kind of creepy, but if it meant Nico could borrow a pair of shoes so he didn't get tormented by the other teenagers, that was fine by him.</p><p>After finding the darkest pair of trainers he could fit on his overly-muscular feet, he meandered back out to the main school building. He tried to give off his usual threatening vibe, to make it seem as though he hadn't almost cried that morning, though he couldn't help but be somewhat skittish.</p><p>Consequently, Nico jolted, eyes wide, when he was stopped suddenly by Piper and Annabeth in the corridor; no one ever spoke to him at school unless it was to say something unpleasant, so the move naturally startled him a little. Evidently, confusion spread over his face - they'd never spoken to him at school before - and the two girls shared an awkward look.</p><p>"Um, hi," coughed Piper, not meeting his eyes, clearly as uncomfortable as he was about the interaction. Nico looked between them, raising an eyebrow. Annabeth sighed and shrugged her shoulders.</p><p>"Look, we'll make this quick. Percy and Jason are coming to watch us today, at contemporary..."</p><p>Nico nearly chocked. "What? But... they can't," he contended. "What about me?"</p><p>Annabeth rolled her stormy eyes, obviously irritated at Nico's arguing. "We know you don't like people knowing about your dancing, understandably. So..."</p><p>"So, maybe," Piper picked up. "Maybe it's best if you don't turn up today. We can tell Mellie for you."</p><p>Nico's heart sank like a weight into his stomach. "Yeah, no... sure. I get it." His eyes dropped to his feet, suddenly feeling rather cold. "Thanks for telling me."</p><p>"Sorry... look, we have to go," Annabeth apologised carelessly, waving to a group of boys that had just walked in. The two girls ran off to find their significant others without giving Nico a second thought, leaving him alone and feeling like lead.</p><p>Of course, there were some days in the week where he didn't have a dance class on, he didn't have his usual escape. On those days, he felt weak, empty, like he'd been stripped of energy.</p><p>This was somehow worse.</p><p>He'd been relying on his dance class after school to help him feel better after this morning; earlier, when things were getting a little overwhelming, he could tell himself he'd get his moment to run away and forget about all that.</p><p>Except, he couldn't. Because some ignorant girls wanted their <em>boyfriends </em>to come and watch them prance about like monkeys, he couldn't go to his one happy place when he needed it most. This wasn't fair. Today wasn't fair.</p><p><em>No dancing</em>. It was the only thought that swirled in Nico's mind as he sat through first-period maths, the constant echo reminding him that today wasn't going to get any better. His teacher called on him at one point, but he could barely hear the question, let alone be able to answer. </p><p>He quickly muttered a soft "Sorry... I'm sorry. I didn't hear...", not really caring if he was heard or not. Someone across the room, Jason maybe, called out in mock defence, asking the teacher to let Nico off easy on the account that he didn't speak English. </p><p>Nico felt anger bubble up inside him. Why did they do that, say those kinds of things? They were all the same, those jock boys. Just because they all played basketball, the school's main sport, and were all fairly good-looking, they acted like they ran the place, parading around in little groups and stomping on everyone else as they went. </p><p>How dare they feel as though they have that right; people like Jason had no idea what kind of shit Nico had to deal with each day. One day, he'd get back at them, find something that'd make the jocks of the school feel the way he did. </p><p>Now, without the anticipation of dancing to ground him, the swelling of fury he retained only grew. With each shove or hurtful comment that was thrown his way that day, he came closer and closer to a complete meltdown. </p><p>Why was he being like this? He needed to pull himself together, or he was going to draw even more attention to himself. </p><p>By the time he made it to his fourth period, he had a dense lump in his throat, built up from swallowed emotions. He hunkered down in his seat and tried to remember what class this was; everything today was blurring into one, so he could barely keep track of his lessons. It was only when he looked up to see the large herd of boys jostle in that he remembered he was in English.</p><p>Fortunately, Nico was surprisingly good at English; he found it easy enough to analyse and evaluate texts, and the topics they did weren't boring in the slightest. Unfortunately, virtually the entire basketball team was in his English class, and they were the most vexatious pack he'd ever encountered.</p><p>Firstly, there was the great Percy Jackson. He had been nice to Nico for the first hour or two that he knew him, but then the school magically decided he wasn't deserving enough of 'nice'. After that, the Percy had been a right jerk to Nico, shoving him around and stealing his stuff whenever he got a chance. </p><p>Then there was Jason Grace, who was basically a rougher version of Percy. The worst Percy did was shove Nico in his locker and imprison him for a few hours; Jason found it funnier to hit him until his nose bled and he saw spots.</p><p>The other teenagers weren't as violent, but they were still as irritating as hell. Leo Valdez hit him with spit wads. Frank Zhang, although he seemed friendly on the surface, was the mastermind behind the horrid rumours about Nico that spread around school. There was Grover, Charles, Jake Mason, Lee Fletcher, and...</p><p>Ugh. Nico groaned and thumped his head on the table.</p><p>In walked Mr Perfect, Will Solace, the bane of Nico's life. He was certainly the most insufferable one of the lot.</p><p>Will had transferred here only last year or so from some southern state. Quite unlike Nico, everyone instantly adored Will. He was charming, athletic, wicked smart, and altogether very attractive. He was snatched up by the jock team before the end of his first week.</p><p>Maybe that's why Nico hated him so much; it wasn't fair that Will got a free pass to popularity when Nico didn't even get a second look. What's worse, the dude constantly felt the need to flaunt his superiority at every opportunity.</p><p>Take today, for example. As the lesson began, their teacher, Mr Brunner, shot out a round of quiz questions. Nico rolled his eyes as Golden Boy called out the answers to everyone, not even letting the rest of the class get a chance. He was just like the rest of them; loud-mouthed and cocky with a twisted superiority complex.</p><p>"Mr di Angelo? Are you paying attention?" Mr Brunner grumbled, peering over his glasses at Nico. </p><p>He blushed angrily and nodded. "Sorry, yeah... sorry, I am listening. Sorry, Sir." Mr Brunner had a habit of drawing unwanted attention to Nico, much to his disdain.</p><p>"As I was saying," the old man proceeded, "today we shall be starting our preparations for our Further Oral Assessments, the FOAs. Now, in light of recent events," he mused, shooting a knowing look at Percy and Jason, who were smirking and clapping each other on the back. </p><p>The boys pulled a practical joke last week on Mr Brunner by photoshopping a picture of his face and torso onto the body of a horse and posting it up around the school. It took them a while to take all the pictures down, but the cursed image still circulated the internet from time to time. Obviously, the two were immensely proud of themselves as they kept bragging about it in the corridors, claiming they'd successfully made Mr Brunner the 'centaur of attention'.</p><p>"I've decided not to let you pick your pairs," he continued. The smiles fell from their faces. Nico scoffed; serves them right. "Instead, I've allocated partners based on previous grades. You should be with someone you'll work well with, so there will be no changes unless absolutely necessary. Right, listen for your names. Katie Gardener..."</p><p>He started rattling off the names on his list. One by one, each of them was paired off, often followed by either a whoop of success or a disdainful groan. </p><p>Suddenly, Nico didn't feel so happy the boys had got their comeuppance; he'd have to be paired off too. Normally, he tagged along with whoever was left without a partner, and even then he didn't do the group work. However, the FOAs were really important and he actually wanted to do well this time. </p><p>The clogged up feeling in his throat from earlier began to resurface.</p><p>"Will Solace," Mr Brunner called. Golden Boy swivelled round in his seat and cocked an eyebrow at the teacher. "You're partnered with Nico di Angelo, over there."</p><p>Nico choked. </p><p>No... Oh <em>Gods</em>, no. Nico hesitantly looked up to where Will was sitting and was met with a dazzling white smile.</p><p>"Howdy, Sunshine," Will called across the room, winking at Nico. </p><p>Nico dropped his head into his hands with a groan. Anyone but Golden Boy. <em>Anyone </em>but Golden Boy.</p><p>"Right, that's everyone. You have the remainder of the period to organise your time together. We'll be working on your FOAs during class, but you'll be expected to spend lots of additional time on this."</p><p>Just like that, Nico's day went from bad to worse. </p><p>Will Solace? Surely the universe couldn't hate him this much; his dad was in a foul mood this morning, he couldn't go to dancing, and now he'd been partnered up with someone he hated and was expected to work with him outside of class.</p><p>Nope, the universe was definitely trying to kill him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Italian Translations:</p><p>Quei Giorni = Those Days<br/>A che ora sei tornato a casa ieri sera? = What time did you get home last night?<br/>Figlio ingrato = Ungrateful son<br/>Sai quanto lavoro duro per te? = Do you know how hard I work for you?<br/>Ci sono persone là fuori; potresti farti male. = There are people out there; you could get hurt</p><p>If you speak better Italian than me, please let me know if I've made a mistake anywhere &lt;3</p><p>~</p><p>Thank you so much for reading! You're all lovely people and you make me really happy :)</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Ragazzo D'oro</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello, hello! Thank you for your patience!! I feel like my chapters are getting longer and longer as we go along - please let me know if they're getting too extensive! &lt;3</p><p>Lots of our lovely golden boy in this one (hence the name of the chapter) :) Please, let me know if you have any corrections or ideas you want to see in this story; I've already taken a few comments into account when writing this! </p><p>The Italian translations are still in the endnotes because I felt like it might disrupt the dialogue if I popped the English translations in there xxx I'm experimenting in future chapters with using bold text to represent the Italian - let me know what you think of this!</p><p>Again, I am British; ignore my spelling differences :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Will Solace was an insufferable git.</p><p>It was the best Nico could do not to punch him in his golden face. When the class had paired off to work on their projects, Will had sauntered over and plopped himself in the seat opposite Nico, grinning mischievously. Instantly, Nico felt hostility roll over him; that smile couldn't be genuine.</p><p>"Well howdy, partner," he drawled, slapping his notebook down on the table, making Nico flinch. "Seems like we're gonna be spendin' some time together, huh?" </p><p>He winked playfully. Seeing Nico glaring back at him, channelling anger, Will let out a sigh and dropped the overwhelming simper.</p><p>"Ah, don't be like that. I'm not <em>that </em>bad," he scoffed. "Look, as long as you actually do the work with me instead of just sittin' around like you normally do, we won't have any problems."</p><p>Nico was surprised at his bluntness. He shuffled around in his seat, a bit unnerved by Will's stare. It seemed like the guy was actually serious about working together. Nico rubbed his eyes; he couldn't believe he was actually having to do this.</p><p>"Fine," he mumbled, turning his scowling face away from Will, who, unfortunately, brought back that trying grin.</p><p>"Well, then," he smirked. "That settles it. So, I was thinkin' we could do somethin' along the Shakespeare lines, I've a lot of notes on him, but I don't mind," he rambled on. "I've got other ideas too: lots of Simon Armitage, some of the Churchill speeches, Carol Ann Duffy..."</p><p>Nico perked up at that; he'd always taken a fancy to her poetry, her perspective being remarkably unique. He scoffed. "Duffy's fine, I guess." He tried not to meet Will's bright blue eyes.</p><p>Golden Boy grinned at him. "Duffy it is. Are you busy after school?"</p><p>Nico opened his mouth to say yes, but then remembered the misfortune from earlier; thanks to Annabeth and Piper, he wasn't busy. Part of him wanted to hang on to see if the girls changed their minds, but he gathered that wasn't going to happen. He grimaced.</p><p>"No. I'm not busy."</p><p>"Great," he beamed. "I'll meet you in the library after school; the sooner we can get started, the sooner we can finish." </p><p>Nico squinted. The blond did make a good point; if he just got on with it, put up with Will just for a little bit, they might be able to get this done quickly. After that, he could be rid of the guy once and for all. "Fine."</p><p>Will cocked an eyebrow, smirking again. "Fine? We need to get you a dictionary, my dude." He chuckled, clearly missing the spiteful look Nico threw at him.</p><p>His day was already a giant mess and now this guy thinks it's okay to poke fun at him. He didn't get what Will's deal was; he kept putting on that ridiculous smile and bubbly personality, but Nico knew it was all some big show. It made him angry at how easygoing and friendly Will was pretending to be with Nico.</p><p>"Anyway, what's your -"</p><p>Thankfully, the bell rang, cutting Will off. Nico shot out of his seat, not wanting to spend another second in Golden Boy's holy presence. He hurried out of the classroom and down a hallway, not really sure of where he was headed.</p><p>After rounding a few corners, knocking into people as he went, he slowed down. He mentally kicked himself as he realised how pathetic he was acting; he'd run away one too many times today. He already had problems on his plate and now with Will... Nico's head was swirling, making him dizzy.</p><p>He needed to calm himself down. Surely this wouldn't be too bad; if he could deal with Percy and Jason routinely, he could deal with Will Solace for a few days. He rubbed his eyes, trying to remember where his next class was. The weight in his chest was making his back hurt. </p><p>Will Solace... Golden Boy... Nico couldn't figure out why he was much worse than the others, but he was. He was<em> so</em> much worse.</p><p>Fifth period passed in a blur; he wasn't sure if he even went to his class. His brain was so overwhelmed, he couldn't focus on anything. Somewhere in the distance, he heard the bell ring for the end of school. He groaned; after school... the project... Golden Boy... he dropped his face into his hands as he wandered in the direction of the library.</p><p>Nico hunkered down in the back corner of the school's library, still visible from the entrance, but away from other people. As he waited for the oh-so-perfect Golden boy to show up, he bounced his knees up and down. </p><p>On any normal Thursday, he'd be running down to Mellie's dance studio right around now; his body was used to being able to expel the masses of pent up energy, hence why he physically just could not sit still. </p><p>He chewed on his fingernails absentmindedly, eyes trained on the window beside him. Eventually, he felt someone thump down into the seat beside him and he let out an exasperated sigh.</p><p>"Howdy, sunshine!"</p><p>Nico flicked his eyes up to meet Will's startlingly blue ones. "Took you long enough," he scorned. Will just chuckled and stretched his arms above his head. Nico tried to ignore how Will's shirt rode up ever so slightly around his waist as he did that. Irritating.</p><p>"Ah, sorry about that," he smirked. "Mrs Dodds was givin' me a talkin' just now, something about homework. I ain't lying when I say that woman is some sorta demon." He laughed, his face lighting up as he did so.</p><p>Nico wanted to agree with him - Mrs Dodds was more of a banshee than a human - but he decided not to give Will the satisfaction; he clearly was only putting up with Nico because of this project. He shook his head coldly.</p><p>"Whatever... so, what, um..." Nico stumbled over his words. Admittedly, he'd never been great at conversations, but Will seemed to make him even more nervous than usual. He coughed. "What anthology are we going for?"</p><p>Will grinned. "Well, of course, you can contest," he said, grabbing Nico's notebook from him to write down his ideas. "But I was thinking about 'The World's Wife'. It's got a lot of real-world topics that we can draw on; the links to feminism and all that stuff would be great to talk about. I studied 'Medusa' for a while in 8th grade. Hey, have you ever played Odyssey?"</p><p>Nico had been trying to zone out Will's blathering, so he kind of startled at the question. "Excuse me?"</p><p>Will shrugged. "Assassin's Creed. It's a video game. In Odyssey, there's this one boss fight with Medusa, took me ages," he giggled.</p><p>"Anyway, there are all these cool poems that link to women and..." He continued to ramble on, but Nico didn't listen. He knew Will was overly chatty - he never shut up in lessons - but he hadn't anticipated that Will might actually try and make conversation. It was somewhat disturbing and Nico increasingly felt like agreeing to this project was a bad idea.</p><p>"So, what do you think?" Will looked at him expectantly, eyes glinting. </p><p>"Yeah, whatever. I don't care," Nico muttered, turning his notebook back towards him. Will was so stubborn and persistent, it was driving him nuts. He just wanted to leave, be done with all of this...</p><p>"Hey, um... are you okay?"</p><p>Nico froze, not sure if he'd heard right, and slowly raised his head at Will's question. The blond was regarding him with a shy smile flickering on his lips. "What?"</p><p>"I mean, like... are you," Will spoke hesitantly. "Are you good, man?"</p><p>Nico would have laughed in confusion if the question didn't make him so angry. Will Solace was concerned for him? This really was a whole new level of low; it was bad enough he was pretending to be friendly, but pretending to care... that made Nico's blood run hot.</p><p>"Why the fuck would you care?" he spat, glaring murderously at Will. He looked shocked at Nico's words, as if he didn't intend to elect such a response. He seemed almost... hurt, the small smile on his face changing to worry and solicitude.</p><p>"What? Of course, I care," he disputed meekly, scratching the back of his neck. "You've just seemed really moody this whole time. Was it something I did?" </p><p>Will's eyes looked so genuine, holding such integrity, that Nico almost believed he was actually worried. Then, he realised that Will was mocking him, trying to make him feel guilty.</p><p>When Nico spoke, he spoke slowly and laced his voice with spite. "Mind your own business," he hissed through his teeth.</p><p>Will sighed and looked away. "Fine, fine. I get it..." he trailed off, obviously unhappy with the conversation's outcome. Nico rolled his eyes. </p><p>Will, he was sure, was just like the other bullies that gave him a hard time. He was only pretending to show Nico any interest so he could make fun of him for it later; how could anyone be so callous?</p><p>Nico went back to angrily scribbling notes, trying despairingly to quell his temper. Today was just about the worst day he'd had in a while and Will Solace, coming along looking all genuine and perfect, was making everything worse for -</p><p>"Look," Will quavered. The fact that he even dared to talk again made Nico clench his fists. </p><p>"I know you've got this whole 'dark and brooding' thing goin' on, but you seem kinda... I don't know... sad, maybe?" he questioned. "Like, I get if that's your vibe, but you don't seem... well, you know. I'm sorry if something is bothering you." He dropped his eyes once more.</p><p>Nico just sat there in bewilderment, staring at Will. "I said <em>can it</em>, Solace," Nico snapped, but couldn't help his voice cracking slightly as he spoke. "Just... do the poems, okay?" Will nodded in answer and, thankfully, carried on working in silence, leaving Nico to comprehend his words.</p><p>No one, not one person at this gods-forsaken school, has ever asked if Nico was okay, let alone stop to register whether or not something was<em> bothering</em> him. In fact, he doubted whether he'd been shown care like that by anyone since his mother died. He swallowed thickly.</p><p>What kind of game was Will playing? The boy had been smiley and friendly all day, and now he cared enough to be the only person to pick up on the fact that Nico was really struggling today. For a moment, Nico didn't know what to believe with him; there was no way that Golden Boy wasn't a bully like everyone else, but things just didn't add up...</p><p>"Um, with this one," Nico coughed, pointing to a poem without meeting Will's eyes. "The 'Medusa' you were talking about, there's... there's obviously a progressing semantic field surrounding animalistic features, so, um... we should probably talk about that." He didn't mean to, but he spoke softly, almost whispering.</p><p>Will seemed to understand Nico's desire to just move on with the project because he smiled once more before launching into a rant about the sibilance concerning snakes in the poem. They continued like that for a while, each suggesting different analyses for Duffy's work. Nico refused to look back up at the boy.</p><p>It wasn't until an announcement rang out over the loudspeaker signalling that the school would be closing up in half an hour that he discerned how long they'd been there. His brain had been so focused on Will that the time had flown by without him noticing. Will hummed.</p><p>"So, um... it's a lot later than I thought. Maybe we should finish up."</p><p>Nico didn't think his voice would work, so he simply nodded. The air between them was awkward as they packed up their things; Nico had meant to come across as mean, but he didn't realise it'd be so uncomfortable after. </p><p>Part of him... felt kinda bad. Will was right, after all; there <em>was </em>something bothering him, so it was a little unfair for Nico to have snapped like that. Sure, the guy was obnoxious and cocky and smart and attractive... but maybe Nico had been a bit harsh.</p><p>He took a shaky breath. "Um..." He felt Will pause to look at him, although he still kept his eyes on his hands. He sighed reluctantly. </p><p>"This thing, it's... it's like a hobby, uh... a sport I play. I couldn't go today. I don't know, made me a little agitated, I guess." Finally, Nico looked up so he could scowl at Will. "Sorry if you got offended by that," he jeered.</p><p>Even though Nico still maintained his spiteful tone when he spoke, Will seemed happy to get something out of him. "No, no... I wasn't offended. Just concerned." The blond boy flashed him a pleasant smile and continued packing up his stuff.</p><p>For some weird and unknown reason, Nico felt... better. Obviously, the intense weight of the day was still crushing him enough for it to hurt like hell, but this little conversation with Will, well, it was probably the only pleasant conversation he'd had with anyone in a long time, and something like that really mattered on days like this. All of this put together... Nico was left in a perpetual state of confusion.</p><p>"Anyways, I should go, get back to my mama and all," Will babbled, smiling. "Oh, yeah! I was going to ask for your phone number earlier in class, but you lit outta there so fast I couldn't catch you."</p><p>Nico stilled. "My... phone number?" he questioned, cautiously.</p><p>Will rolled his eyes. "Yeah, death boy. So we can chat... about the project, I mean." As he reached into his pocket to pull out his phone, Nico swore he saw a faint blush creep up his cheeks. He handed the phone over to Nico, the contact page pulled up.</p><p>Cautiously, he snatched the phone from him, muttering a quiet "don't call me that". He punched in his number, surprised he could still remember it, and handed Will's phone back to him, ignoring the comical fact that his phone case had a cartoon picture of a corgi on it.</p><p>Golden Boy smiled. "Awesome. Thanks, Nico," he turned towards the exit. "I'll text you!" He waved a quick goodbye and, with that, he was gone, leaving Nico standing dazed in the middle of the library.</p><p>He felt like he'd been slapped across the face. Six years... no one had spoken to him like that in six years. Not only that, but this was the first time he'd actually tried to be nice to someone in, well... he couldn't remember how long it had been, but it was a long time ago.</p><p>That was why, as his feet carried him home aimlessly, he decided that Will Solace was an insufferable git.</p><p>He thought he had him figured out: just another arrogant jock whose life goal was to make Nico suffer. Now? Now he didn't know what to think. There was something about him that Nico couldn't quite put his finger on and it was seriously stressing him out.</p><p>He mused over this for the entire walk home, his emotions swirling from nervous to confused, from angry to calm. It reminded him of dancing. Of dancing...</p><p>Suddenly, he stopped, his house now in view. His dancing. His <em>father</em>. He'd been so preoccupied with the annoyance that was Will Solace, he'd almost forgotten that he was having a wretched day. Now he was home and couldn't afford to forget about what happened this morning. </p><p>A sickening feeling spread through him; he'd neglected thinking about the desperate apology he'd need to make to his father, who, he soon realised as he turned the key in the lock and pushed through the door, was waiting for him to get home.</p><p>"Hey, Nico. Come here a sec," he heard Hades call from the living room. He winced. His dad called to him in English; that either meant he was in a really good mood or a really, <em>really </em>bad mood.</p><p>Nico slowly crept into the living room where his dad was sitting. Thankfully, the smell of alcohol had dissipated from the house, allowing Nico to breathe without gagging. Hades fixed him with a small smile - a good sign - but Nico could easily see the cold behind his eyes. "Hey..." he motioned for Nico to sit.</p><p>"I'm really sorry about earlier. I just wasn't myself," he crowed. "Although, you have to admit, I was only saying what I had to. Someone has to be the voice of reason around here, you know?" </p><p>Hades reached out a hand to pat Nico's shoulder; he tried not to flinch. "I'm only trying to maintain a good life for us. You've got to learn not to be so sensitive, <em>giovanotto</em>."</p><p>Nico hadn't expected such a plain apology from his father, his words made it seem as though Nico was the one who was wrong, not him. Nico knew that wasn't true, but he went along with the apology out of fear.</p><p>"You're right, dad. I'm sorry. I shouldn't storm out on you like that, not when you're working hard."</p><p>"Working hard? Bah!" He let out a bark of laughter. "I'm the only one who does anything around here! You'd be out on the streets if it weren't for me."</p><p>Nico chuckled fearfully, sitting on the edge of his seat. "So... should I try to get home earlier then? It'll be hard... with football..." he coughed. Nico knew he shouldn't push it, but he had to know if there was going to be any more trouble with this; he didn't know how he'd work around it if he couldn't get home late after dancing.</p><p>Hades pursed his lips and sighed. "Of course not, <em>ragazzo sciocco</em>. You can't skip out on football. I don't care what time you come home, <em>voglio solo che tu mi ascolti e sia ragionevole</em>," he snapped. "Now go, <em>vai in camera tua. Fai... i compiti o qualcosa del genere</em>."</p><p>"<em>Si, signore</em>." Nico took the much-needed opportunity to scurry off to his bedroom. Once he was alone and the door was closed behind him, he threw himself down on his bed, resisting the urge to cry from relief.</p><p>He'd been lucky today, thankfully. There was a strong chance his brain would've exploded if things had gone sideways with his dad. <em> Gods </em>, it sucked to live like this; there were very few days in his life when things were actually okay.</p><p>He wondered for a moment if things would ever change. He stopped wondering because it was a sickly thought to dwell on.</p><p>He just wanted to curl up on his bed and never move again. He just wanted to jump back into his dream from that morning and never, ever leave. He didn't cry; he was seventeen. He didn't cry, but the overwhelming noise from his brain made his eyes prickle. He didn't cry.</p><p>There was a buzz from his jacket pocket. Confused, he pulled out his phone to see he'd received a text from an unknown number.</p><p>
  <em> 'Howdy, death boy x' </em>
</p><p>Nico dropped his face back down into his pillow, letting out a strange little sigh. <em>Insufferable git</em>.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Italian Translations:</p><p>Ragazzo D'oro = Golden Boy<br/>Giovanotto = Young man<br/>Ragazzo sciocco = Silly boy<br/>Voglio solo che tu mi ascolti e sia ragionevole = I just want you to listen to me and be reasonable<br/>Vai in camera tua. Fai ... i compiti o qualcosa del genere = Go to your room. Do... homework or something<br/>Si, signore = Yes, sir</p><p>~</p><p>Thank you for reading! If you speak better Italian than I do, feel free to correct my mistakes! I'm trying to learn Italian as an 8th language, so I'd appreciate any help and corrections.</p><p>Thanks again, lovely people &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Il Suo Gioco</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello, hello! I'm sorry this took a little longer - it's really not my best work, but I accidentally focused on writing some of the future chapters when I was meant to be writing this one! If you have any comments, corrections, or improvements, please let me know! I'd be really grateful &lt;3</p><p>Again, I be British. I realised I'd been saying 'football' without specifying that it was my kind of football and not American football, but I made that clear in the chapter. I hope you can forgive me ;)</p><p>Please enjoy!! Virtual flowers for all of you :D</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When he woke up, his first thought wasn't of dancing or his father... he thought of Will Solace.</p><p>At first, he genuinely wondered if yesterday had been some sort of twisted dream; Will had acted notably peculiar around him... he'd tried way too hard to talk to him, much to his chagrin. Nico received a stream of texts from the boy last night, but he hadn't responded to any of them.</p><p>He checked his phone and, sure enough, there were twelve unread messages from one Will Solace. He keened. It wasn't a dream after all.</p><p>Hauling himself out of bed once again, he took his time showering and getting dressed; the later he got to school, the less time there'd be for Will to bombard him with chatter like he did yesterday.</p><p>As he was tugging on his shirt, he tried to overlook how ghastly he seemed; his eyes were all sunken and, despite being remarkably muscular, his frame was sickeningly skinny. In his mind, he looked disgusting, but there was nothing he could do about that.</p><p>He crept downstairs, trying to step close to the furniture, but faltered when he realised he couldn't hear his father. He hazarded a glance through the window and let out a profound sigh of relief when he saw his father's car wasn't in the driveway. He didn't know why his dad had left early, but it was always a blessing when he did. For once, he was able to grab his breakfast, a single green apple, without the usual chills down his back.</p><p>He checked the clock on the wall and sighed; he'd be late if he didn't leave now, not that he really cared. Grabbing his stuff, shoving his headphones in his pocket, he shuffled out the door and trudged the long walk to school.</p><p>It was nicer today, you know... with shoes, but he couldn't relax; the bothersome smile of Golden Boy kept invading his mind, unwanted. Nico pondered what kind of dense comments he'd make today. Obviously, after all those texts, he'd still want to talk to Nico, who certainly could not say the same for him.</p><p>However, when Nico got to school, Will was nowhere to be seen. He'd half expected him to be waiting at the gates, possibly accompanied by the rest of the jocks, ready to beat him up. Thankfully, Nico didn't cross Will at all as he made his way to his form room.</p><p>He didn't see him as Jason lobbed a book at his head in first period. He didn't see him when Percy locked him in a supply closet, making him miss second. In fact, it was only when break time rolled around that he saw any glimpse of blondie at all.</p><p>Nico watched as a crowd of jocks, the basketball team, rounded the corner, Will Solace amongst them. He was grinning, a goofy look on his face.</p><p>Nico prepared himself for the worst; Will was going to come up to him, make some sort of mocking joke, and give the rest of the jocks something to tease him about for the next month.</p><p>As they approached, he stepped to the side to give them room. He still got a call of "out of the way, freak" from Jake Mason. Will caught his eye. This was it... he locked his jaw and crossed his arms.</p><p>Will dropped his gaze, moving on with the group without a word to Nico.</p><p>Well... that was unexpected. With how chatty he'd been yesterday, it hadn't even occurred to Nico that Will wouldn't speak to him today. He watched as the group walked off, Will Solace not offering a second glance.</p><p>Nico was pleased, thankful even that Will didn't want to talk. He'd hated talking to the blond yesterday. He was irritating and annoying and he was only doing it to be mean.</p><p>Nico flopped his shoulders and scuffled off to his next lesson, picking at his fingers.</p><p>He tried not to look annoyed in history. He could see Will and a few other jocks from where they sat a couple of seats in front of him. They laughed and shoved each other around. Will didn't look towards Nico.</p><p>For fourth period, Will sat behind him in biology. Nico almost resisted the urge to turn around and look, but the curiosity was burning away at him. He snuck a glance behind him. Will's gaze glazed over his as if he didn't even acknowledge Nico's existence.</p><p>Nico wasn't angry. He'd been dreading any sort of conversation with Will. Just to show how not-angry he was, when the bell rang for lunchtime, Nico stormed off to his spot to sulk. </p><p>Admittedly... he was kind of miffed that Will didn't want to talk to him anymore; he could've at least kept up the joke a little longer. </p><p>Maybe that's exactly what he was doing, trying to make all Nico confused and enraged by just disregarding his existence. That was it.</p><p>What a horrible boy. Typical jock, playing Nico around like that. Irritating. Bothersome. Insufferable <em>git</em>.</p><p>Nico pushed into the E-block boys' bathroom, his spot; the bathroom was probably one of the most disgusting places on earth, hence why no one ever came in there. Nico could sit here all lunchtime and not be bothered... he just had to put up with the smell.</p><p>He thumped down on the floor, not caring how gross it was, and plugged in his headphones, wanting to drown out the awful voices whirling 'round his brain. He needed something grounding to focus on.</p><p>After shuffling through his rather varied playlist, he settled on some Rhianna; the woman was a genius when it came to music you could dance to. Settling back, he listened to the beats of the music, closing his eyes and imagining the moves he'd put to them.</p><p>He imagined the energy, the rhythm... what jumps he'd do, what slow contortions. He relaxed, envisioning the beautiful moves building up and up, exploding in the chorus, falling back down in the -</p><p>His eyes snapped open as he heard the bathroom door bang open. To his surprise, the unexpected intruder was none other than Golden Boy himself, the very person Nico did not want to see.</p><p>"Howdy, di Angelo! I was hoping I'd find you here," he grinned.</p><p>Shamefully, his first thought was fear; when someone like Will went looking for him, it usually meant he was going to get hurt. It took him a moment, Will reluctantly sitting on the grubby floor in front of him, for him to realise that wasn't the case here. </p><p>Slowly, his fear morphed into confusion, which then quickly changed to spite; why was he talking to him now? That wasn't part of Will's stupid game. Will had gone back to pretending he didn't exist for the whole morning, and now he barges in here to annoy him some more... he kept forgetting how much he really hated the guy.</p><p>"It took me ages to figure out where you were; I went full 'Sherlock Holmes' style asking everyone 'round school," he giggled, crossing his legs like a child. "Why are you here?"</p><p>Nico rolled his eyes. "I could ask the same of you," he muttered.</p><p>"No, I mean," Will gestured around him. "Why hang around in a bathroom... <em>this</em> bathroom of all places? It's kinda gross; no one ever comes in here."</p><p>"That's kinda the point," he sighed, already done with Will's nagging... to think he'd been miffed at Will's earlier silence.</p><p>"Oh," he hummed. "I guess so..." He trailed off, drumming his fingers on his knees. Nico gave him an apprehensive look and moved to put his headphones back in, figuring the conversation was over.</p><p>"So, why didn't you reply to my texts?" Will asked, cocking his head to the side like a puppy. </p><p>Nico huffed, annoyed, and dropped his headphones back into his lap. "Didn't want to," he replied, a little scornful.</p><p>Will hummed again, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, okay... I just thought -" </p><p>"Look," Nico cut him off. "Why are you talking to me?"</p><p>At Will's quizzical look, Nico scoffed. "No one talks to me, Solace. Now, because we're doing some project together, you're suddenly all interested. What's your deal?" Nico was angry now, officially done with whatever game Will was playing.</p><p>To his surprise, Will didn't respond with anger or some snarky comment. Instead, he shuffled back a little and hugged his knees to his chest, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know," he mumbled. "I just want to." He wouldn't meet Nico's eyes.</p><p>Nico didn't know what to say to that. He wanted to shove Will away, tell him to get lost, but he couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of curiosity; Will wanted to talk to him... when was the last time that happened?</p><p>"I, um..." he coughed. "Fine, whatever. Just... don't stick around. I like to be alone," Nico snapped, although his voice lacked the usual intensity of hate. </p><p>Will nodded, offering Nico a small smile. Obviously, he ignored the gesture and went back to his music.</p><p>One second... three seconds... five seconds...</p><p>"So, what sport do you play?"</p><p>Nico groaned, ripping his headphones back out and throwing a pointed look at Will. "What?"</p><p>"You said you played sports," he jabbered. "I was asking which sport." Again, he did that 'tilted head' thing, cocking his eyebrows quizzically. Nico noticed how his hair flopped into his eyes, making him seem like even more of a child.</p><p>"I, um. I do, uh..." he stuttered, registering the question; he'd almost forgotten himself and answered truthfully, but he swiftly remembered whom he was talking to. "I play football." Nico tried not to let the hesitation show in his voice.</p><p>Will looked him up and down, opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish. "Now, are we talkin' 'football' football or 'soccer' football? You don't look the corn-fed 'football' football type."</p><p>Nico shook his head. "Soccer football. I learnt my English from Italians, so '<em>calico</em>' was always football, not soccer."</p><p>Golden Boy grinned, making Nico blush slightly. "That's cool; I didn't know you were Italian," he smirked. </p><p>Nico rolled his eyes; he didn't look Italian, he was too pale, so his heritage always took people by surprise. The looks he got whenever he spoke his mother tongue were almost comical... he wondered if Will'd have the same astonished look.</p><p>"Soccer football is cool though," Will continued, snapping Nico out of his daze. "I used to play when I was younger... I was pretty good, actually," he sighed wistfully. Used to... Nico wondered why he stopped. "Anyway, now I play basketball. Now <em>that</em> I'm good at." </p><p>There we go, back to the cocky Will that Nico knew. Nico scoffed, unimpressed.</p><p>"Well," Will hummed. "We don't have English today and then it's the weekend, so," he quipped. "Are you free after school."</p><p>Weirdly enough, Nico almost wanted to say yes... until, of course, he remembered the alternative. "Uh, no," he coughed. "I have... football today."</p><p>Will's eyes lowered with... disappointment? Nico couldn't tell. "Oh, that's okay." He opened his mouth, as if to continue, but was cut off by the bell for the end of lunch.</p><p>He stood, brushing off his now grubby jeans. Nico stayed put.</p><p>"Are you not comin'?" Will raised an eyebrow. Nico just shrugged his shoulders.</p><p>"I don't feel like PE."</p><p>Will sighed. "That's the third time you've skipped in the last month. Coach ain't gonna be happy."</p><p>Nico rolled his eyes and moved to put his headphones in, but stopped short halfway. "How did you know it was my third... never mind," he shook his head. "Get moving, Solace."</p><p>The blond boy nodded and pushed through the run-down door... only to pop his head back in a moment later. "Just," he sighed. "Answer my texts."</p><p>Nico blinked at him for a moment. He felt a sudden blush lift in his cheeks. "Uh... yeah, fine. Whatever," he muttered, looking away.</p><p>Will smiled at him and then disappeared once more and, this time, he didn't come back.</p><p>'<em>Insopportabile</em>,' Nico thought to himself as he finally went back to his music.</p><p>It was just like him to come barging in to confuse Nico. He didn't want to answer any of his texts, yet he felt compelled to. Will must be working some sort of mind tricks, every word part of his manipulative game. Nico could easily picture Will's happy smile hiding something mischievous... could he?</p><p>"Nico?"</p><p>Although... Nico had no reason to believe he wasn't genuinely interested in talking to him. Perhaps he just wanted to get on with the project. That smile... maybe he wanted to talk more. There was really no way of knowing -</p><p>"Nico!"</p><p>He snapped his head up to see Mellie and the others waiting for him. "Nico? We're starting our barre exercises," she said, indicating the rest of the class. "Care to join us?"</p><p>He shook his head, embarrassed. He had lost himself in his thoughts, still mulling over the 'Solace' problem from earlier. He didn't normally get distracted in dance class. "Yeah, sorry." He hurried over to the barre and began the ballet exercises with the other girls.</p><p>He'd been looking forward to ballet all week, so it was strange that he'd zone out like that. Obviously, the trauma of speaking to Solace was really getting to him. Nico focused on blocking that overwhelming smile from him mind... doing so was harder than it should've been.</p><p>The class was amazing, as always. It only took a few moments of Nico focusing on his moves rather than... whatever he was thinking about before to get back that exhilarated feeling he got when dancing ballet.</p><p>When it finally came to doing group work, Nico was in his usual 'bouncing off the walls' state; he needed to keep moving.</p><p>They'd been working on their 'Pas de Deux' recently, although, since Nico was the only boy, he had to do the dance over and over with each of the five girls in his class; he knew it inside out after only a couple of weeks of training.</p><p>"Annabeth, Nico... you're up." Mellie waved them over to the middle of the hall.</p><p>He tried to ignore the judging look Annabeth was giving him as they moved into place. She hated him just as much as the next person; in fact, her boyfriend was the one and only Percy Jackson, the same guy who'd locked him in a storage cupboard that same day.</p><p>He placed his hands on Annabeth's waist, making her tense up a little; she probably didn't like a guy putting his hands on her like that, but Nico was purely focused on the dancing, not the contact. </p><p>He never felt that way around any of the girls in his dancing, so the close contact never bothered him as much as it did them. They'd teased him once, saying... well, saying things that weren't very nice. It'd made him feel weird... he'd almost cried. That had been the only time Mellie had ever got involved; the girls weren't allowed to call him that anymore, or they'd be kicked out.</p><p>As Mellie counted them in, they set off on their duet. Luckily for him, Annabeth was very slight, meaning she was easy to lift; mid-way through the dance, he had to lift her up onto his shoulders, a move he'd done a thousand times with the blonde. He twirled her around, maintaining his balance, as she kicked her legs into various splits and dèveloppès.</p><p>As much as Annabeth seemed to dislike Nico, it was clear to see that they worked well as a pair. He knew exactly how to lift and hold her to make it look both effortless and elegant. Both Annabeth and Piper were the only two girls that could properly work with Nico; the three of them were the best dancers in the school.</p><p>It was beautiful, the way they danced together. Nico loved to dance on his own, but there was so much more you could do with two people.</p><p>They finished their piece with a tourn en l'air from Nico and Annabeth moving into a third arabesque. There was clapping, as always, but Nico didn't really pay attention. He let go of Annabeth's hand and gave her a quick smile. She ignored him.</p><p>So it continued, Nico went up to perform the dance with each of the girls and they ignored him in turn. The day got repetitive and, although he loved his ballet, he let his mind wander.</p><p>Of course, it chose to meander on back to Golden Boy, the Prince of Perfect himself.</p><p>Everything seemed strange when he thought about it hard enough; Will had never spoken to him before yesterday. Nico had seen him around, always prancing about like a cocky buffoon, but Will'd never shown any interest in him. </p><p>Then, as if out of the blue, he makes more effort than needed to talk to him. He met up with him after school. He sent him a bunch of texts asking when he was free. He actively sought him out at lunchtime, then proceeded to have a... pleasant conversation with him.</p><p>There were only two options: Will was really, <em>really </em>invested in this assessment and wanted to constantly work with Nico on it, or he had an ulterior motive. Will Solace was a jock, a bully... even if he'd never done anything to Nico. He wanted something out of him, something that Nico would only tell a friend. That was it... that was it...</p><p>His walk home wasn't as nice as it usually was; his brain was too busy.</p><p>On any other given day, he'd be choreographing some fantastic new routine to keep his mind nice and calm. Today, his head was filled with gold and blue. </p><p>Will Solace was different. Will Solace was new. It scared him, how much he didn't understand what was going on. Nico knew there was some evil masterminded plot behind this whole mess; he even wondered if Mr Brunner was in on it himself, pairing them up on purpose to torment Nico.</p><p>He wasn't angry anymore, which was the worrying part; he was confused and, quite frankly, he had no idea what to do.</p><p>He'd never had anyone try to be his friend before.</p><p>He reached his house and dug out his key. Twisting it in the lock, he pushed open the door, which creaked from age. He threw off his shoes and popped into the kitchen.</p><p>He was hungry - he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast - but there was nothing of interest he could find. He plucked a few grapes from the bowl on the counter, letting his mind drift as he munched.</p><p>He remembered what Will had asked of him. '<em>Answer my texts...</em>' Of course, Nico didn't want to; he didn't want any more conversation that necessary. Except... he was curious. He found his fingers inching toward his phone instinctively. Surely one text wouldn't hurt... </p><p>The last text from Will was sent ages ago during his ballet lesson:</p><p>
  <em>Are you free tomorrow? We really need to get this done :)</em>
</p><p>Nico smirked at the little smiley face. Idiot Solace. He was free tomorrow... he could just text back. What's the worst that could happen? Solace brings a gang of his buddies to beat him to a pulp... it's happened before. Nothing Nico couldn't handle.</p><p>He went to type the message, fingers twitching. If he agreed, what would Will say? He didn't know what would happen if -</p><p>"Nico. Come here."</p><p>He froze. The voice was cold, slow, apathetic.</p><p>Letting out a shaky breath, he backspaced the text; he wasn't going to be able to go anywhere tomorrow. He knew that tone. His father wasn't happy.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Italian Translations:</p><p>Il Suo Gioco = His Game<br/>Calico = Football (soccer)<br/>Insopportabile = Unbearable</p><p>~</p><p>Thank you all for reading :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Colpevole</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello, hello - I did something bad! I started writing another fic even though I haven't finished this one! I promise this will continue to update at least once or twice a week, but please forgive me if it's a little slower than it has been.</p><p>Shorter chapter today - I split the original draft into two separate chapters because it was 5000 words. If you have any corrections, comments, criticism or otherwise, please let me know :)</p><p>Please enjoy &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It wasn't the first time Nico had walked through the school halls with makeup on; there had been rough weekends before.</p><p>His shoulders ached where he carried his school bag. His arms were tired, his legs barely carried him along. His whole body was exhausted, a tainted shade of purple. He dreaded school on any normal day, but it was always worse after they'd had an argument over the weekend; he didn't have the energy for school.</p><p>Today, however, there was something different plaguing Nico's cognisance as he slowly walked through the school halls.</p><p>He felt sick like he normally did on Mondays, but not for the usual reasons. His phone felt heavy in his pocket. His breathing was laboured and not because his chest hurt. It was something different.</p><p>As he walked into first period History, that 'something different' churned in his stomach as his eyes fell on Will Solace. </p><p>Guilt.</p><p>He'd promised to text him. He didn't have any obligation to; it wasn't like Nico owed him anything. He just... he'd asked him to.</p><p>From an outside view, it seemed as though Nico purposefully ignored him for two days. Nico didn't know Will very well, so not talking to him was hardly ignoring. Still... it wasn't his fault, but still... guilt. Ugh, this was confusing.</p><p>Will didn't look his way as he sat down in his seat. Nico kept sneaking glances at Golden Boy throughout history, but, just like on Friday, Will barely acknowledged his existence.</p><p>Nico was starting to lose any sort of... not hope, <em>interest</em> that he had left in him. Back to being forgotten...</p><p>He sighed, chancing one more look up at the boy, and nearly jumped back when his ebony eyes locked with a pair of deep blue ones.</p><p>Will seemed as surprised as he was to be met with sudden eye contact, quickly looking away with a blush rising to his cheeks.</p><p>Was... was Will Solace... he was looking at him. How long had he been staring? Was he... was he doing that the whole time? That's kind of creepy.</p><p>Yes, that's what Nico had been doing the whole lesson, stealing glances, but it was different for him. He wasn't creepy. Will Solace was creepy.</p><p>Nico, for once, was thankful he was wearing makeup to hide the scarlet flush creeping up his neck.</p><p>Maths went by quickly for a change. Sure, Jason and Percy were trying to see how many tiny wads of paper they could throw in Nico's hair before he noticed and Grover tripped him up when he went to grab a textbook, but otherwise, the time flew by.</p><p>Blessings like that didn't regularly happen. At first, he wondered if he'd accidentally choreographed a tap routine in his head for later to make the time go faster, but, after some consideration, he realised that wasn't it.</p><p>Maybe he was just super excited for religious studies, although that theory was even less likely. Their teacher, Ms Hera, was an absolute nutcase; she was one of those 'my way is right and everyone else is wrong' kind of religious people... maybe not such a good mentality for an RS teacher.</p><p>He wasn't at all excited for RS, but something was pulling him through the day.</p><p>When the class began, Nico became painfully aware of a pair of eyes watching him. Once again, he snapped his head up in the direction of Will Solace's seat and, as expected, caught him in eye contact.</p><p>The blond boy blushed again, just like in history, but this time... he shot Nico a small smile and waved. He waved to him... in class. An unwanted rush of heat flushed through Nico, but he kept his composure; he raised an eyebrow and rolled his eyes, trying to look sinister and unfriendly, and turned his head back to the front, blanking the boy.</p><p>Stupid Solace, trying to make him feel funny in class; it was bad enough he felt guilty for ignoring his texts. Now he felt annoyed. Irritated. Funny.</p><p>When he glanced back up at Golden Boy, he was staring quietly at his hands, smile drooping.</p><p>After fourth period Spanish, Nico trudged along the school halls to the back of the E-block where the boys' bathroom was. As always, no one was around to cause him trouble.</p><p>That was, of course, until he pushed open the door to see that someone was already in there.</p><p>There was the initial shock of having an unexpected visitor, but after that passed, Nico sighed. Sitting in his spot on the bathroom floor was a mop of bright, golden hair.</p><p>"Solace."</p><p>The blond folded his arms and stared at him, pouting. "You didn't text me."</p><p>Nico groaned, rolling his eyes. He found a moderately clean spot on the floor next to Will to sit down on and pulled his phone out. He typed a quick 'hello' and sent it to Will.</p><p>"There. You happy?"</p><p>Will gave him an exasperated look. "You're putting this off. We're never going to get our FOA done if we don't meet up, you know."</p><p>He huffed. "Yeah, I know."</p><p>That sat in awkward silence, listening to the leaky tap as it dripped away.</p><p>"You blanked me in RS," Will hummed.</p><p>Nico squinted at him. "Only because you were staring at me. I don't like being watched."</p><p>"I wasn't staring."</p><p>"You were. <em>Gods</em>, you're annoying," Nico scorned.</p><p>"Oh," Will scoffed. "Forgive me for trying to interact with the school's 'emo kid'. I thought maybe if you weren't going to answer my texts, you'd at least shoot me a smile from time to time."</p><p>Nico laughed in spite. "Now, why would I do that? We aren't friends."</p><p>"That was my mistake, then," he grunted, a sad look falling across his face.</p><p>More silence.</p><p>"Why did you come here?" Nico asked, quietly.</p><p>Will hummed a little. "Wanted to."</p><p>"But," Nico groused. "I just don't get why you're sitting with me instead of your perfect basketball friends."</p><p>Will sighed, hesitating before offering a small smile. "You're different," he mumbled.</p><p>Nico set his jaw and looked away from Will. Different? Was he some sort of experiment? The holy Will had obviously got bored of his wonder-team and had made it his goal to befriend one of the loner kids. Pathetic.</p><p>"Please," he sneered, not wanting to play Will's sympathy game.</p><p>Silence.</p><p>"Why do you hate me?"</p><p>Nico looked back at him, furrowing his eyebrows. "What?"</p><p>Will shrugged his shoulders sadly. "Why do you hate me so much," he sniffed. Nico's reply was instant.</p><p>"I don't hate you," he scoffed. He wasn't sure where that came from, but it was true; Will Solace was insufferable and annoying and cocky, but Nico didn't hate him. There were people more deserving of his hate than Will.</p><p>"Well," Will pouted. "You sure act like it, sunshine." </p><p>The corner of Nico's mouth twitched as he watched Will curl his legs up to his chest and rest his head on his knees like a little kid. For someone so tall, he could really make himself look small if he wanted to.</p><p>Nico hesitated. "You're," he breathed, his tone harsh. "You're the first person, especially a jock, to actually speak to me nicely. I'm not sure if you ever bothered to notice, but the majority of your friends like to make my life hell."</p><p>Will didn't look at him. Guilt.</p><p>"You can't blame me for not wanting you around, Solace. You're one of <em>them</em>. I don't hate you, but I'm..." he paused. </p><p>Will turned his head to meet his eyes. Will's eyes were bright blue and, Nico was now close enough to see, there were flecks of gold spanning the edges. He looked sad... guilty. Nico swallowed. </p><p>"I have every reason to be scared of you."</p><p>Will had this thing where, even if he was sad or angry or whatever, he always looked like he had a smile in him; there was this aura of happiness that spread around the irritating blond everywhere he went.</p><p>Looking at him now, this was the first time Nico had seen that inner smile fade away completely.</p><p>He nodded, placing his head back on his knees, and his shoulders seemed to slump down. "I'm..." he croaked. Nico's gaze was firmly fixed on his own hands. "I'm sorry."</p><p>His breath hitched. Sorry? Will Solace was... he didn't know what to say. Nico felt that familiar feeling, the guilt.</p><p>"I'm not anymore," Nico mumbled. "I'm not scared of you. As I said, I don't hate you. You're irritating and annoying and, <em>Gods</em>, you're one cocky guy," he chuckled softly. "But I don't hate you. I don't hate <em>you</em>."</p><p>The silence was shameful. Nico watched as Will processed what he'd say, the cogs turning in his brain. </p><p>The turnaround was kind of scary to watch. Suddenly, that little hint of happiness that Will always carried around with him flared back to life, almost blinding Nico. Will turned and smiled at him.</p><p>"Good! I'm a lovely person, so it'd be a shame for you if you didn't like me."</p><p>Nico almost laughed. Yeah, it'd be a <em>real </em>shame.</p><p>"Don't push your luck," he spat, but the hate wasn't there.</p><p>That sat like that throughout lunch, just... talking. Occasionally, Will would say something stupid and ignorant that pissed Nico off; he'd throw some nasty comment his way and they'd fall back into quiet. Nico filled the silences that followed those moments with questions about their FOA.</p><p>They kept talking about hobbies, things they liked to do. Obviously, Nico avoided the 'football' conversation as much as possible. Will, on the other hand, was happy to rant about his favourite things.</p><p>"Basketball is phenomenal, it really is," he hummed whimsically. "Best sport around by far, no offence"</p><p>"None taken," he shrugged. Nico only cared about one sport; as long as Will didn't make a comment like 'dancing's not a real sport', he'd be fine.</p><p>"Anyway, did I tell you how much I sold my turnips for the other day?" Will babbled.</p><p>"Your what?"</p><p>"My turnips!" he laughed. "Animal Crossin'... you must know about turnips," he gawked. Nico shook his head and Will gasped. "Wow. You really don't play any video games, do you?"</p><p>"Nah," he sighed and rubbed his chin. "Not really my 'thing'. That earned a giggle from the blond boy.</p><p>Suddenly, Will's eyes widened, staring at Nico's face. Nico tried to think whether that was the wrong thing to say, but then his fingers flickered up to where Will's gaze was fixed and he realised what he'd rubbed at.</p><p>"Don't ask," he warned, covering the now visible purple with his hand. "Not your business."</p><p>He fidgeted. "Did Percy and Jason really -"</p><p>"I said," Nico warned. "None of your business."</p><p>Will swallowed and nodded, concern still clear on his face. He cleared his throat, looking away. "It's not obvious," he mumbled. "It's just a little 'round your jaw. You're good."</p><p>"Good."</p><p>Again, the awkward silence he'd been trying to curb resurfaced. He should've been more careful, but he kept forgetting himself around Will; he needed to be cautious, or he'd have more problems on his hands than he should.</p><p>"Do you, um," Will stammered. He let out a breath and smiled at Nico. "Do you want to walk to class with me? We have English for fifth period," he grinned.</p><p>His first instinct was to tell him to stuff off; he didn't actually like spending time with him. Then... then he offered a small smirk of his own.</p><p>"Do I have a choice, Solace?"</p><p>"Nope!" Will hopped up and offered Nico a hand.</p><p>He rolled his eyes and slapped away the help, getting up on his own. Will was beaming at him and Nico took a moment to just stare at the boy. He looked so... happy. It was strange, but a good strange. A nice strange.</p><p>"Right, then," Nico sighed. "Lead the way, Golden Boy."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Italian Translations:</p><p>Colpevole = Guilty</p><p>~</p><p>I hope you enjoyed reading this! You guys make me super duper happy xxx<br/>:D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Strano</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello, hello! You lovely people... the comments I've been getting just make me smile so wide :D Thank you for being such wonderful readers xxx</p><p>Notice any spelling mistakes, corrections, or things that could be improved? Tell me! I love to hear your comments :)</p><p>Do I need to say 'I'm British' again? Probably not. One quick thing: I'm not sure if Americans say 'footie', but I wasn't sure what other slang word to use!</p><p>Hope you enjoy! (3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nico tried his best to maintain a scowl as they walked towards English, but it was harder than anticipated.</p><p>Will Solace walked on his left, skipping and hopping his way down the hall like some sort of happy child... which he was.</p><p>They'd slipped into a comfortable silence, Nico keeping his gaze on his boots. Occasionally, Will would point out someone he knew and then proceed to spew some random fact about them. It was... strange.</p><p>He'd thought that, with Will there, no one would try anything, but he was wrong; as they were walking down the hall, some beefy girl with a spiky haircut slammed into his shoulder. "Freak," she hissed.</p><p>Normally, he'd stumble and faceplant onto the floor, but the impact had knocked him straight into Will's side. Nico felt a pair of strong arms catch his fall. When he looked up, he was met with Will's astonishingly blue eyes. The blond had concern written all over him.</p><p>"Woah, are you okay?" Those orbs of cerulean glistened.</p><p>For a second, Nico could only bob his mouth open like a goldfish as he stared at him. When he realised that Will still had his arms around him, holding him up, Nico shook his head and pulled away.</p><p>"Yeah... I'm fine, Solace," he sneered, taking a few steps back and crossing his arms.</p><p>Will pouted. "Are you sure? I can go talk to Clarisse if you want. She shouldn't -"</p><p>"I said I'm fine!" Nico's raised voice made some of the other people in the hallway turn to look at them. He lowered his head and coughed. "It's no big deal."</p><p>The blond nodded considerately; at least Will knew when to leave it alone. "Come on, then," he smiled, teeth glinting. "We better keep goin' or Mr Brunner'll have our heads."</p><p>The remainder of the walk to English, Nico kept a safe distance away from Golden Boy. </p><p>He felt really strange about what happened; there was something about the way he caught him just then... Nico couldn't quite put his finger on it. Maybe it was the contact, his arms, the look in his eyes afterwards... maybe it was just that Nico had never had anyone there to catch him before.</p><p>It was strange and he wasn't sure he liked that sensation being there. It made his stomach churn.</p><p>When they sat down at their desks, Will coming over to sit by Nico so they could work on their project, Nico made sure to keep his arms and legs tucked in close to him, away from the wandering limbs of Solace.</p><p>"So, I was thinkin'," he purred as they started their work.</p><p>"Don't hurt yourself," Nico muttered, ignoring Will's wholesome laugh.</p><p>"You busy after school? We could hang around after class to do some more of this." He flashed Nico a wicked grin, making him swallow stiffly.</p><p>"It's almost like you want to spend time with me," he scoffed to himself. When Will laughed, he realised he'd said that out loud. Nico blushed.</p><p>"No, of course not," Will smiled at him, his voice clearly laced with sarcasm. "I'm just <em>super</em> psyched about this project." He leant back and winked at Nico, who promptly rolled his eyes and hid his burning face with his hands.</p><p>"Um," he mumbled. "I am, actually... busy. I have," he faltered. "I have football."</p><p>If Nico hadn't been watching closely, he might've missed the sad droop in Will's expression. "Ah, that's okay. What days are you free then?"</p><p>Nico hummed. "Tuesdays. I only had last Thursday free because football wasn't on."</p><p>"Just Tuesdays?" Will smirked. "Wow, they push you hard in footie, huh?"</p><p>He leant back in his chair and stretched his toned arms. "Well, I have basketball Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Can you do weekends?"</p><p>Weekends? Will wanted to spend time with him outside of school... may the gods help him.</p><p>He groaned. "Fine. Weekends are okay. I can't do my house, though," he added as an afterthought. There was no way he was bringing Will anywhere near his dad; he doubted the two would get along.</p><p>"Awesome!" he beamed, blinding Nico. The kid was way too happy for his liking. "You can come to mine on Saturday; I'll text you the address."</p><p>They lapsed into silence as they resumed their poem analysis, so Nico had a moment to stress out about what he'd just agreed to.</p><p>He hadn't been to a friend's house in years. He didn't know if his dad would be okay with it, although there was a chance he would be if it was for school work. He wasn't really aware of the social rules regarding these things and he didn't want to make... </p><p>Since when had he thought of Will as a <em>friend</em>? That was weird. Very weird.</p><p>"So, what position do you play?"</p><p>Oh no.</p><p>"Hm, what?" Nico paled.</p><p>"In football, what position do you play?"</p><p>"Oh," he stuttered. "I'm a defender."</p><p>Will cocked his eyebrow. "Oh, really? That's cool," he smirked. Nico couldn't tell if he'd believed him or not; even though he'd spent years bluffing to his father about football, he was still a terrible liar. </p><p>For some reason, it was a lot harder to lie to Will's face than his dad's, which didn't make sense since his father was <em>way</em> more threatening than Mr Sunshine.</p><p>"What's your team name?"</p><p>Oh, <em>come on</em>.</p><p>"What's it to you, Solace?" Nico figured he could just beef up those emotional walls he'd perfected to stop Will and his nosy mind.</p><p>"Just wondering," he giggled, obviously unfazed by Nico's scowling self.</p><p>He swallowed. Why was it so hard to lie to him? Stupid git.</p><p>"Well, don't. It's creepy."</p><p>Will's eyes twinkled. "Totally creepy."</p><p>They continued with their poems. Nico pretended not to notice the curious looks Will was throwing him.</p><p>He was so... <em>strange</em>.</p><p>When the bell rang, his automatic instinct was to spring out of his chair and run to the door, but then he faltered. He didn't know what curbed his burning desire to instantly run away to tap, but he hesitated for a moment.</p><p>"Bye, Will," he muttered.</p><p>Will Solace beamed at him, making Nico's skin feel warm. "See ya, Sunshine."</p><p>Then, <em>then</em>, Nico bolted through the door and started to run. He ran and ran and ran, his brain sparking with electricity. </p><p>He didn't stop running until he reached the studio.</p><p>He had tap dance class today, thank the gods; he needed something to keep his feet moving to stop his head from catching fire. Nico was a very good tap dancer, so these classes worked perfectly to take his mind off of... everything.</p><p>Once he'd changed, he made his way up to the studio. Annabeth and Piper, the only two girls that also went to his school, were heading towards the doors too. They were dressed similarly to him: black joggers, loose shirts, and split-sole tap shoes laced around their feet.</p><p>Nico sighed as they reached the door. He may be closed off and spiteful sometimes, but he wasn't rude; he held the door open for the girls as they entered. They didn't say anything, simply giving curt nods of thanks as they passed him. Nico rolled his eyes. Girls.</p><p>The class was brilliant. They did rounds of pull-backs, grab-offs, shuffles and scuffles. Nico, rather smugly, was the only one able to perfect their twelve-beat riff, sending a jolt of confidence through him. Oh, how he loved to get things right; he was never mean about it, especially not since the girls were fantastic dancers, but he did hold some pride when it came to tapping.</p><p>"Right, ladies!" Mellie called across the hall after a water break. "You're up, in the centre; let's keep going with the husband dance, shall we?"</p><p>Nico wasn't in this dance, so he waited to the side of the hall whilst the four other girls - Annabeth, Piper, Rachel, and Katie - shuffled into the middle, their shoes clicking as they walked. </p><p>Mellie chose Meghan Trainor's 'Dear Future Husband' as their next tap routine and, for obvious reasons, she thought it best Nico didn't partake in this one. </p><p>Part of him was pleased; the dance was horrifically girly and the song made him want to claw his ears off. He'd be mortified if he had to join in with the others.</p><p>Then there was the other part of him; he loved learning new choreography, even if it was a bit ridiculous, so he still wanted to join in with the dance. The tap moves Mellie came up with for this number were incredible; they were extremely hard and complex, highlighting the girls' ability perfectly.</p><p>Even though he wasn't technically in this number, he always stood to the side and learnt the choreo' anyway. He'd slip off his tap shoes so he didn't disturb the girls too much and he'd pay attention to the moves Mellie showed them. He loved the combination of tap steps, memorising them easily.</p><p>As a result, he knew the dance just as well as the rest of them, even if he'd never perform it.</p><p>The music started to play, the cheerful tones making Nico shiver slightly with disgust; he was never a fan of 'girly pop music'. Nevertheless, when the beat kicked in, his face lit up with feeling as they launched into the routine.</p><p>There were time-steps and pick-ups and everything else you can think of for a tap routine. Nico's arms moved languidly and gratuitously, but his feet were sharp. There wasn't a step he missed.</p><p>As he said, it was overly girly with way too many 'kissy faces' thrown about the place. In one part, he swivelled his hips in a way that would make a prostitute blush; if he weren't lost in the dance, he'd be abashed.</p><p>After they'd finished, he felt those pure waves of energy rolling off him and he had <em>that</em> grin on his face. He never smiled outside of dancing, so it felt nice to let go for once.</p><p>When the class came to an end, he tried not to feel dejected; he held on to that pumped up, alive feeling as they cooled down and went off to change.</p><p>As Nico pushed out of the studio doors, he felt a rush of cold air whack him in the face. The night was cold and the girls waiting outside, including Piper and Annabeth, were huddling together for warmth. He shivered, shaking his arms and legs out so his muscles didn't freeze up.</p><p>It was going to be a long walk home.</p><p>He sighed, ready to set off, when he felt a buzzing in his pocket. He pulled out his phone and read the contact on the caller screen. It was his father.</p><p>Nico desperately racked his brain to think of what he'd done. Perhaps there was something he forgot... or maybe he was supposed to come home early today. After the stress of the weekend, he could easily have forgotten.</p><p>Hesitantly, he answered.</p><p>
  <em> 'Nico.' </em>
</p><p>He gulped. "Hi, dad."</p><p>
  <em> 'Are you home?' </em>
</p><p>"No, dad..." His eyes flickered up to the group of girls, some of them watching him. He winced. "I'm at football."</p><p>His father grunted. <em>'Very well. I presume it wasn't a wasted evening.' </em></p><p>"No, Sir. It wasn't."</p><p>He grunted again. <em> 'Good.' </em></p><p>Nico waited, swallowing down the silence.</p><p>
  <em> 'I want you home now, do you understand?' </em>
</p><p>"Yes, sir," he nodded. "It might take me a while, but -"</p><p>
  <em> 'No, giovanotto. Now.' </em>
</p><p>"<em>Si, signore</em>. I'll... I'll try and get home as soon as possible."</p><p>
  <em> 'È megilo.' </em>
</p><p>"<em>Lo farò</em>."</p><p>Nico heard the beep as his father hung-up on him. He cursed under his breath; if he didn't make it home soon... Nico didn't want a repeat of yesterday.</p><p>There were footsteps beside him, making him startle. Annabeth Chase, dragging Piper along with her, had stepped up to Nico.</p><p>"You told your dad you were at football," Annabeth queried, her breath coming out in puffs of cold air. "He doesn't know?"</p><p>Nico gawked at her. What a... <em>bitch</em>.</p><p>"Of course he doesn't know, Annabeth," he sneered. "How would you feel if you had a son who liked to dance? He'd be disgraced. Trust me, he can't know."</p><p>"Oh..." She looked taken aback by Nico's harsh tone. Carefully, her face morphed into embarrassment... she almost looked sorry for him. "I just presumed..."</p><p>"It's fine," he scoffed, anger dissipating. "Don't worry about it."</p><p>He turned to leave, not wanting to waste any more time getting back to his father. He'd barely made it two steps when Annabeth called out to him.</p><p>"Hey!" Nico turned around. Annabeth was twiddling her hands sheepishly. "Do you want a ride home?"</p><p>"I'm sorry?"</p><p>"I know you live quite far from here," she admitted. "You said on the phone... if you need to get home as soon as possible... you can ride with me and Piper.</p><p>He looked between the two girls. At first, he was going to turn them down; they'd never talked to him before, let alone be nice to him. Why should he want to travel with them?</p><p>Then, he resigned. They were right; he needed to get home before his dad threw a temper tantrum. "Um, yeah," he mumbled. "If that's okay."</p><p>"Sure thing," Piper nodded, flashing a somewhat forced smile. They didn't like him, it was clear to see that, but at least they were decent enough humans to recognise that Nico was a person too.</p><p>The ride home was awkward, as could be expected, but Nico appreciated the gesture. They dropped him a few blocks from where he lived; he didn't want to risk his father seeing their car. As he stepped out into the cold, he turned back to them.</p><p>"Thanks," he sighed. Once again, they only offered nods, but there was a little more purpose behind them than before. Nico stepped back as the car shot away, leaving him standing alone in the street.</p><p>His shoulders dropped as he started to trudge up the road, picking at his fingers.</p><p>Always the same cycle... always dreading coming home.</p><p>When he reached the house and stepped through the front door, Hades di Angelo was standing at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for him. Sucking in a breath, Nico took a step forward and closed the door quietly behind him.</p><p>The air hung thick like smoke; it was clear to see the tension from the weekend hadn't dissipated. Nico was silently praying to the gods that Hades wouldn't start anything; he was still angry with his father, his rage bottled up, and he knew things would kick off at the smallest trigger.</p><p>The pale man walked up to him, his eyes dark and cold. He reached out a hand, making Nico flinch, and grabbed him by the face. Nico tried to hold still.</p><p>His father turned his face from side to side, eyes flicking up and down his cheeks. Nico knew; he was inspecting Nico's makeup job as he always does after he realises he went too far. A bony finger brushed over the spot on his chin that Nico had rubbed off when he was with Will. He squeezed his face a little harder.</p><p>Then, abruptly, he let go, striding off into the living room without uttering a word.</p><p>Hurriedly, not counting on Hades staying away for long, Nico grabbed a few snacks from the kitchen to last as dinner and ran off to his bedroom.</p><p>He threw the food in his drawer, kicking off his shoes as he did so, and tried to calm his breathing.</p><p>As he did every other day, he flopped down onto his bed, exhausted. He winced at the pain that shot up his body, but he didn't move. He just lay there for a moment, listening to his own breathing.</p><p>Today had been... peculiar. Not a bad peculiar, just... different.</p><p>For one, Will Solace hadn't been as annoying as he'd expected. He'd stared at him in lessons, bothered him all of lunch, and then he'd arranged for them to spend even <em>more </em>time together. Nope, strike that; definitely still annoying.</p><p>Nico pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the missed messages from Golden Boy. There was this funny feeling in his fingers, his shoulders, his tummy. He clicked open his message bar.</p><p><strong>Nico:</strong> <em> What do I have to do to get you to leave me be?</em></p><p><strong>Will: </strong> <em>Well that depends on what you're offering, Sunshine</em></p><p><strong>Will:</strong> <em> I'll accept nothing less than a million bucks and your firstborn child</em></p><p><strong>Nico:</strong> <em> That's not happening</em></p><p><strong>Will:</strong> <em>Well then... I guess you're stuck with me ;)</em></p><p>Then, Nico smiled. It was big and bright and toothy, something this house had never seen from the di Angelo family. His grin was full of energy, something that he only felt when... when...</p><p>This wasn't any old smile; this was a dancing smile.</p><p>Will Solace... <em>insufferable</em>.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Italian Translations:</p><p>Strano = Strange<br/>Giovanotto = Young man<br/>Si, signore = Yes, sir<br/>È megilo = You better<br/>Lo farò = I will</p><p>~</p><p>Thank you for reading!! If you'd like to see a particular scene or topic in this fic, let me know!</p><p>(3</p><p>^ Also, this looks like a frog and I love it &lt;3</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Uova Spezzate</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>'Ello, 'ello!! Thank you for tuning in once again! If you spot anything that needs improving or correcting, please let me know! Additionally, I'm British, so favourite is spelt with a 'U'.</p><p>I'm very pleased to say that, as of a few days ago, this story now has over 1100 hits and 100 kudos!! This is incredible! To have so many people read and enjoy this story in just over two weeks is... it's just phenomenal. Thank you so much for your responses!</p><p>You're all lovely people! Please accept a virtual flower from me &lt;3</p><p>I hope you enjoy this chapter :D</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next morning, his dad made him an egg.</p><p>Nico had come down for school, having had the best sleep in a long time, and was caught off-guard by the unfamiliar smell of cooking breakfast wafting through the house.</p><p>As he rounded the corner to investigate, he saw his father hovering over a frying pan with a tea towel thrown over his shoulder. Nico had half a mind to run; his dad never cooked... this was unpredictable.</p><p>"Nico," Hades growled as he glanced over his shoulder to see him peering through the door. "<em>Venire. Sedersi</em>."</p><p>Nico did as his father asked and sat down on one of the counter stools. He kept quiet.</p><p>When his dad shifted to face him and laid a plate with a single fried egg on it in front of him, Nico couldn't help but frown in confusion.</p><p>"Well," Hades clucked. "Don't be ungrateful. <em>Dì 'Grazie'</em>."</p><p>He swallowed, surprised by the kind gesture. "<em>Grazie, signore</em>."</p><p>"Hm," he grumbled, moving over to wash the pan in the sink.</p><p>Hesitantly, Nico ate the ever-so-slightly bland egg in reticence, mulling over it as he chewed. </p><p>Sometimes, he forgot how much his father cared for him. He <em> was </em> a kind man, he just had so much on his plate. Nico had to be more patient with him; even though he struggled, he still did nice things for his son as he had today, and it was unfair for Nico to always think so poorly of him.</p><p>It must've been the... the <em>unfamiliar </em>nature of the morning, or perhaps having a breakfast that wasn't a single apple, but Nico suddenly found himself in the school halls, ready for first period. He could scarcely remember the journey to school... everything was a bit blurry. It didn't feel right. </p><p>The haze lifted once he realised which class he had now.</p><p>Meandering into his biology classroom, he took his seat, trying to disregard the patent pair of blue eyes that seemed to be glued to his back. Nico shook his head, his thoughts now clear. </p><p>Solace.</p><p>Today, all his lessons except one had Golden Boy in... not that he cared. He was simply intrigued; they'd talked quite a bit yesterday over text, just about their poems and such. It was... interesting.</p><p>At least, it was more interesting than this bio class; as he sat through biology, his eyelids grew heavy. They were watching some surgery video and the dim light of the classroom was making him nod off.</p><p>The video on the screen showed a man getting his upper arm dissected during an operation, eliciting squeals and cries from the rest of the class. Nico didn't think it was at all entertaining, so he allowed his head to drop down onto the table.</p><p>He was only roused out of weariness, however, when he heard a chuckle behind him. Nico lifted himself from his desk and swivelled round in his chair. </p><p>Will Solace, Golden Boy, Mr Perfect, was staring at the screen with a glint of wonder in his eyes. Suddenly, there was a chorus of 'eww's around the class and Nico heard a squelching coming from the video.</p><p>Will tittered with glee. "Cool..."</p><p>Nico's eyes widened. Well, that wasn't creepy... not in the slightest.</p><p>The boy, who was grinning like some sort of psychopath, realised he was being watched. He locked eyes with Nico and, seeing his horrified expression, shrugged his shoulders and mouthed 'What?'.</p><p>Okay, so <em>that</em> was his evil plan. Will didn't want to be friends with Nico... he just wanted to kidnap him when he least expected it and take him away to dissect him. Clearly, the dude was nuts.</p><p>Nico blinked as he laid his head back on the table. Maybe he wasn't such a golden boy after all... the corners of Nico's mouth twitched upwards.</p><p>When the bell rang for the end of biology, he didn't wait around for Will Solace, partly because the dude had other friends to walk with and partly because Nico didn't fancy becoming a surgical experiment. Unfortunately, Will had other plans.</p><p>"Howdy, Sunshine!" Will beamed as he rushed to catch up with him.</p><p>Nico whined. "Leave me be, Solace."</p><p>Will threw his hands up, feigning hurt. "Why? I thought we were buddies after last night! We texted for ages -"</p><p>"I said," Nico scoffed. "Bugger off! You were being creepy in bio and it's giving me the jeebies."</p><p>"What do you mean?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "I wasn't doing... oh," he giggled, realisation hitting him. "You mean with the video."</p><p>Nico dropped his face into his hands. "Of course I meant with the video, <em>idiota</em>! You were going all psychopath watching that guy get his arm hacked open."</p><p>Will only smiled at him. "Darn right," he crooned. "I wanna be a surgeon; that kind of body stuff is so cool... to me at least."</p><p>Nico rolled his eyes. That cleared things up a little bit, but he was still antsy; of course Golden Boy wanted to be a surgeon, as if he couldn't get any more perfect.</p><p>He flumped down in his chair when they got to English, pulling out his FOA notes; for some reason, he'd actually been giving this analysis some work... probably because he wanted to be rid of Solace as quickly as possible.</p><p>He was just about to bring up a point of the 'Mrs Sisyphus' poem when he felt Will nudge him under the table with his foot. Nico's breath hitched at the contact.</p><p>"Thank you," Will hummed, peering at him over his anthology.</p><p>"For... for what?" Nico stammered, stunned his brain could even find words.</p><p>He chuckled. "For texting me."</p><p>Nico cleared his throat. "Oh, yeah... whatever," he snapped, looking away. The weight of Will's piercing, bright eyes was too heavy on him.</p><p>From the corner of his eye, he saw Will's fingers twitch forwards as if reaching for something, but then the blond pulled away. As if he'd never moved, he laughed. "I knew I'd get through to you eventually," Will jeered, leaning back in his chair with a grin.</p><p>"Dream on, Solace."</p><p>They spent that lesson analysing 'Mrs Sisyphus' and, oddly enough, maintained a somewhat pleasant conversation. Sure, Will was bothersome as always, but he was considerably easier to put up with than he had been in the past.</p><p>~</p><p>"Why did you pierce your ears?"</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"Dude," he laughed. "You need to get your canals cleaned. I asked why you pierced your ears."</p><p>Nico brought a hand up to brush past the pieces of metal hung around his ears. "Oh... because I wanted to."</p><p>"Yeah, but why so many?"</p><p>"I wanted them."</p><p>"Which one's your favourite?"</p><p>He twisted his head to the right. "This one. It's called a conch."</p><p>"Why is it your favourite?"</p><p>"It hurt like a bitch,' he shrugged.</p><p>Will giggled, dropping his face in his hands. "You're funny."</p><p>~</p><p>"Are you Italian?"</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>"Were you born in Italy."</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>"But, you moved here."</p><p>"Yes... when I was like, five."</p><p>Will chewed his lip. "Cool... so you speak Italian."</p><p>He sighed. "Again, yes; Italian is actually my first language."</p><p>"Oh," Will raised an eyebrow. "Do you think in Italian?"</p><p>What sort of question was that? "Uh... yeah, mostly. Sometimes. I don't know."</p><p>"Cool..."</p><p>~</p><p>"What's your favourite colour?"</p><p>"Bright pink."</p><p>"Wait, really?"</p><p>Nico shot him an exasperated look. "No. My favourite colour is bl... black."</p><p>"Oh, okay. That makes sense."</p><p>"What's yours?"</p><p>"Yellow," he grinned.</p><p>"Of course it is."</p><p>~</p><p>The class passed by effortlessly. They'd got quite a bit of work done within the hour, despite Will's blabbering mouth and all his questions. Nico was actually... he didn't mind his presence. It was strange. He... yeah, strange.</p><p>As they were about to leave, Nico got an odd feeling in his tummy. He swallowed down a lump in his throat and took a nervous breath.</p><p>"Hey, Will," he mumbled. Will looked up at him, a toothy grin plastered all over. "Do you, um... wanna walk -"</p><p>Just then, he was cut off by the basketball team coming up behind Will. Percy Jackson clapped him on the shoulder.</p><p>"Wassup, bro!" he cheered. "Hey, di Angelo isn't bothering you, is he?"</p><p>Nico took a step back, looking down. Will stammered. "Uh, no... what -"</p><p>"Good," Percy laughed. "He can get... disturbing."</p><p>Jason came up on Will's other side, pushing Nico further towards the door. "Yeah, keep away, freak."</p><p>His whole body tensed up at the word. He felt his eyes prick with anger and a small flush stretched over his cheeks, so he did the only thing he could do; he turned and bolted from the room, followed by the laughter of the jocks. He briefly heard Will call "Hey!" behind him, but he didn't care. He'd heard enough.</p><p>He didn't go to RS. Instead, he ran off to his bathroom to hide for the period, not wanting anyone to see him so bitter.</p><p>The strange thing was that he wasn't angry with Jason or Percy or any of them... he was mad at himself.</p><p>Nico had forgotten his one rule when it came to this school: they <em>weren't </em>your friends.</p><p>In his recent talks with Golden Boy, he'd neglected the kind of person he was inside... the kind of people he hung out with. They were horrible, all of them, and Nico wanted to stay as far away as possible.</p><p>He despised Will Solace. He was mean and rude and... it didn't matter how nice it felt to have him smile at you; he wasn't a good person. They were all the same.</p><p>It took him the whole of third period to calm down; he was so angry at Will and Will's friends and himself and<em> everything </em>that he could feel his blood bubbling under his skin. Once the steam had stopped spouting from his ears and he no longer saw red, he suffered himself to breathe.</p><p>Reluctantly, he left the bathroom when he heard the bell ring for fourth; he'd missed so many PE lessons, he couldn't afford to wallow away in anger any longer.</p><p>Physical Education was the last class he wanted right now, especially since it was jock home territory. He tried to delay the inevitable by getting changed slowly, but that couldn't last forever. He was the last one left in the changing room and, if he didn't face his certain doom now, his teacher would come looking for him.</p><p>As he unwillingly entered the gym hall, trying to stick close to the wall so he wasn't spotted, he heard a shout.</p><p>"Di Angelo!"</p><p>Oh, gods... here we go.</p><p>The school's coach, Coach Hedge, had a soft spot for Nico, although he had no idea why. This being said, Nico had officially skipped three PE lessons in the last month, and such a crime would never go unnoticed by Hedge.</p><p>The gruff old man stormed up to him and, despite the fact Nico was much taller than him, he felt a chill run down his back. He cleared his throat, making some attempt to stare down the teacher.</p><p>"Coach?"</p><p>"You've been skipping my lessons, Cupcake?" he barked. The students waiting on the benches now had their eyes fixed on them, listening to the argument.</p><p>Nico shrugged and moved to push past the stout man, desperate to get away from him. He was met with a clipboard to the chest.</p><p>"Well done, Cupcake. You've just earned yourself a month's detention; every day after school, an hour spent doing laps."</p><p>Nico was about to accept his fate and move on when he realised. "I can't do that, Sir," he paled. An hour after school every day... there's no way he'd be able to do that and keep dancing.</p><p>"Oh, really," bleated the coach. "And why is that, huh?"</p><p>Nico was suddenly very aware of the eyes watching him. He glanced up at the group of students; some were giggling, clearly amused that Nico was being punished, and some were rolling their eyes as if this was some big inconvenience in their lives and then... he met a familiar pair of blue eyes.</p><p>Will Solace didn't look annoyed like the other jocks, and he certainly didn't look amused... he looked concerned. Nico snapped his eyes away, still angry at the boy.</p><p>"You deaf, Cupcake?"</p><p>He spluttered. "No, Sir. I just," he dropped his voice to a whisper. "I can't do that. I have... football practice."</p><p>He'd been avoiding using that excuse in front of the coach because he was sure he'd see right through it... but, surprisingly, Coach Hedge looked him up and down with an air of sympathy. He gruffed once more.</p><p>"Today, after school, here in the gym. I'll see if you're worth letting off." He gave him that look, the all-knowing one that creeped Nico out. "Now, go sit your ass down."</p><p>"Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir." He trudged over to the far end of the bench and thumped down, ignoring the chattering and laughs in his direction.</p><p>The rage from earlier was resurfacing quicker than he'd expected; it was hard to keep it down when the likes of Frank Zhang and Charles Beckendorf sat further down the row, making vulgar comments about how creepy you are.</p><p>"Ladies, gentlemen," Coach Hedge yelled, silencing them. "Today we'll be doing circuit training, nothing you sissies haven't done before: plank, squats, high-risers, ladder runs, sit-ups, pull-ups, push-ups... a lot of 'ups'. We'll go round in a clockwise motion, with three pairs on each station, maybe three or four times. Is that clear?"</p><p>There was a grumble around the class. "Yes, sir..."</p><p>"Right," he bellowed across to them. "Partner up! Same-sex partners only," he sneered towards Beckendorf and Silena, who had their arms around each other.</p><p>Nico didn't bother getting up from the bench. </p><p>He was never picked as a partner and, as there was an odd number of boys in their class, he repeatedly found himself doing PE alone in the corner. In all fairness, he liked it that way; it meant no one could judge him for his utter ineptitude in sport.</p><p>However, much unlike PE in the past, someone came over to sit next to him. He didn't look up; he didn't need to.</p><p>"Go away, Solace."</p><p>Will twisted his hands together in his lap. "You weren't in RS," he reflected. "Are you okay?"</p><p>Nico snapped up to meet his eyes, trying to channel resentment. Will looked sympathetic, concerned, worried, but Nico couldn't care less at this point. "Why are you talking to me?" he sneered. </p><p>"Because I want to," Will contended. "It's not -"</p><p>"Can't you see I don't want you around?" Nico snapped at him, making the other recoil.</p><p>It was true, Nico didn't want Will to bother him anymore; he ought to stick to his fraudulent sports friends. "Just," he hissed, looking away. He folded his arms in on himself and dropped his voice down to a whisper. "Leave me alone."</p><p>There were several moments when neither boy said anything; they sat on the bench, the air thick and uncomfortable. Nico thought Will would have the brains to just leave, but perhaps he was overestimating the blond's intellect.</p><p>Will sighed. "Look," he said in a sunken voice. "I am so sorry for what Percy and Jason said to you after English." Nico faltered at his tone; it seemed more genuine than he'd ever heard him sound.</p><p>Will gulped. "I spoke to them, to the boys. I told them never to say those kinds of things to you again... I don't think they listened, though," he mumbled. "I'm sorry."</p><p>Nico didn't say anything.</p><p>"Um... I still want to be friends with you... and stuff. If that's okay." Will looked down at his hands, still tangled together and shaking.</p><p><em> Idiot Solace</em>. He's a jock, a bully. He's cocky and he's arrogant and rude and...</p><p>"Okay," Nico huffed. "Fine. Friends, whatever."</p><p><em> Gods</em>, he needed to start carrying sunglasses around with him; the sparkling beams of Will Solace's smile were enough to blind him. Golden Boy hopped up and down with child-like excitement.</p><p>"Awesome," he grinned. "Hey, do you wanna partner with me today?"</p><p>Nico choked. "What? Why?"</p><p>"Well," he hummed. "Jake's not here today, he broke a bone, and he's whom I normally go with. So... I might as well go with you for now!"</p><p>He scoffed. "It's bad enough I'm partnered with you for English," Nico smirked. "Like I'd want to be stuck with you for PE too."</p><p>Will, in all his idiocy, winked at him. "Ah, come on. It's only until Jake's back. Besides," he shuffled closer to Nico on the bench, causing his pulse to skyrocket. "As I said before, I'm not <em>that</em> bad."</p><p>Once his brain had comprehended the sudden closeness, Nico squinted at the other. </p><p>He could see each of the freckles that danced across his face. He noticed how his cheeks curved into dimples. He remarked on the little flecks of gold that swam through the blue of his eyes. </p><p>Here he was thinking Solace couldn't get any more irritating.</p><p>His mouth perked up in a smirk, he narrowed his eyes. "'Not that bad', my ass," he jeered. "Now let's get going before Coach has our heads."</p><p>"Awesome," he beamed again, jumping up from the bench. "Hey, speaking of Coach... I'm sorry he gave you a chewin'," Will sympathised. "I'd feel bad for you, except..."</p><p>Nico scowled at him. "Except what?"</p><p>"Except," Will flashed a wicked smile. "I <em>did </em>warn you not to miss PE."</p><p>"Shut <em>up</em>, Solace."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Italian Translations:</p><p>Uova Spezzate = Broken Eggs<br/>Venire = Come<br/>Sedersi = Sit<br/>Dì 'Grazie' = Say 'Thank you'<br/>Grazie, signore = Thank you, sir<br/>Idiota = Idiot</p><p>~</p><p>Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you have any particulars that you want to see in this story &lt;3</p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Salto di Fede</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello, hello! Sorry this chapter took ages to write - it's a little longer than usual :)</p><p>Please let me know if you have any improvements you'd like me to make; all of your suggestions so far have been fantastic!! &lt;3</p><p>This chapter is based off of an exercise my PE teachers made me do in secondary school; as a dancer, I was one of the only people who could do the exercise every time, so I thought it'd be funky to pop Nico in that situation... I hope you enjoy!! Xxxx<br/>:D</p><p>(Also, I made Coach Hedge kind of mean - I promise he doesn't stay that way! I love the Coach, I'd never make him into a major bully xx)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>PE flew by faster than it ever had before.</p><p>Surprisingly, he and Will worked wonderfully as a pair, even if they did pummel each other with joking insults. Because all of the fitness exercises Coach Hedge had set out for them were all things Nico was used to doing in dance warm-ups, he easily surpassed Will in terms of athletic ability as they flew around the circuit.</p><p>Nico took the humorous enjoyment of teasing Will whenever he did something better than the blond; it was a simple pleasure.</p><p>For the first time in... in <em>ever</em>, Nico was kind of sad that the lesson finished so quickly. Before he knew it, Coach was blowing his whistle and Will was collapsing on the floor from exhaustion, a cheeky smile blessing his face.</p><p>"I didn't know you had that in you, di Angelo? Such stamina..."</p><p>It was a harmless comment, a compliment even, but it made Nico's ears turn bright pink. Will jumped up, shooting him a wink, and headed off towards the changing rooms.</p><p>He hesitated. He'd never been a fan of changing in front of the other students; his anxiety was split between how skinny and boney and gross he looked and, of course, how abnormally muscular he was. For some reason, with Will there it seemed...</p><p>"You comin', Sunshine?" Will grinned back at him.</p><p>"Whatever, Solace."</p><p>He tried to change as quickly as possible, his face flushing red. He kept his eyes firmly on the wall ahead and he could only hope Solace was doing the same; that dude was creepy, he didn't want someone like Golden Boy watching him change. Creepy.</p><p>Whatever the case, Nico calmed down a little once they were all decent. Will tried to fling an arm over his shoulder as they headed towards the E-block, but Nico stubbornly shoved him off. He'd never liked physical contact, especially not from perfect little fools like Solace.</p><p>Over the years, Nico had grown accustomed to the revolting smell of the E-block bathroom, but Will hadn't had that luxury.</p><p>"Ugh," he cried, pinching his nose. "You really oughta get a new hangout spot, dude."</p><p>Nico shook his head, plopping down by the sinks. Strangely, he didn't instantly reach for his headphones as he usually would.</p><p>"Right, so," Will buzzed, throwing himself down beside Nico before digging through his bag. "If I'm going to be spending these lovely lunchtimes with you -"</p><p>"Regrettably," Nico mumbled.</p><p>He ignored him. "Then we're going to have to set something straight."</p><p>Will pulled a small box from his bag and popped it open. Inside were two, rather squashed, sandwiches wrapped in clingfilm.</p><p>"I... I brought you lunch."</p><p>Nico stared blankly at him, thinking about whether he'd heard him wrong. "You... what?"</p><p>"There are two things I've noticed," he explained with a smile, pointing a finger at Nico. </p><p>"Number one: I haven't eaten lunch for the past few school days. Lunch is very important to me. I'm a growing boy; it's a necessity." He grinned, patting his stomach. Nico inched back a little.</p><p>"Thing number one is I haven't been eating lunch. Number two is <em>you</em> haven't either."</p><p>Nico paled. He didn't eat lunch... he never ate lunch. Not because he wasn't hungry... it was because he could never get hold of any; the school canteen was suicide for him and his father never gave him anything to take. He hadn't even thought...</p><p>"You didn't have anything yesterday, or on Friday, so I wanted to make sure you ate some today," he grinned. "Ham or cheese?"</p><p>He remained frozen, bobbing his mouth open like a fish. Nico didn't really know what to say; was there a social protocol for 'lunch'?</p><p>"You... you brought me lunch? Why?" Nico was genuinely confused.</p><p>Will looked at him and then, softly, he smiled. "I wanted to." He held out one of the sandwiches to Nico, who took it hesitantly.</p><p>Popping the box back in his bag, Will giggled. "Besides, you're a skinny dude! We don't want you fading away!"</p><p>Nico might've taken offence to the offhand comment, but he was too distracted by a sudden thought. "Hey... do you know how unsanitary it is to eat in a bathroom? It's grim in here."</p><p>"Do<em> you</em> know how unhealthy it is to not eat at all?" Will laughed. "I'm sure we'll live just as long as we don't touch anything," he winked.</p><p>"I was right," Nico muttered under his breath. "You <em>are </em>trying to kill me."</p><p>"What?" Will mumbled, his mouth now full of sandwich. Nico scoffed.</p><p>"Nothing, Solace."</p><p>They ate their food in content silence, but Nico had to forcibly swallow his; 'food' had never been his strong suit, always harbouring some sort of anxiety over eating in front of others.</p><p>But, slowly, he found himself being lulled into a sense of... what was this? Friendship? If so, it was weird and kind of gross. Being 'friends' with Will Solace hadn't been on Nico's to-do list, nor will it ever be.</p><p>Nevertheless, leaving the bathroom after lunch to head alone to fifth period was much harder than it should've been.</p><p>He felt lonely in geography, which was most unusual; Nico didn't get 'lonely', he'd spent so many years getting used to the feeling.</p><p>Yet, as he sat there, pencil hanging out of his mouth and staring at Mr Atlas waggle his arms around at a diagram of sedimentary rocks, he felt an asphyxiating pang of isolation.</p><p>Thinking about it, he'd much rather be back in the disgusting bathroom chatting with Will than be here. That was strange too; he didn't like Will Solace and he certainly wouldn't deliberately choose to spend time with him.</p><p>He didn't like Will... it's just that his presence made him feel different. When he spoke, the utter imbecility of his words wanted to make Nico laugh, a foreign feeling for the boy. His stupid smile made him feel warm; it was a nice change from his usual cold-hearted character. Sure, he force-fed Nico some crappy sandwich in a dirty bathroom, but the idea that someone might actually care about him was so... different. </p><p>For some reason, Nico wasn't as repelled by Golden Boy as he maybe once was... though, that didn't mean the kid didn't annoy the hell out of him.</p><p>After his class, Nico tried to push all thoughts of Will to the back of his mind, tired of having such an irritating matter constantly invading his brain. </p><p>Besides, he probably couldn't afford to have any distractions for what he was going to have to deal with now; the school day had ended, so Nico reluctantly made his way to his PE detention.</p><p>As Nico navigated through the school halls towards the gym, he kept half an eye out for Will. He kinda hoped he'd bump into him before his detention; he had no idea what Coach Hedge had in store for him and, frankly, he could use a little Solace Sunshine... not that he would <em>ever</em> admit it to Golden Boy's face.</p><p>Alas, Blondie was nowhere to be found. Sighing, Nico dropped his shoulders and kept walking until he reached the entrance. </p><p>Hearing the squeaking of shoes from behind the gym door, he groaned. There was obviously practice of some sort going on... he prayed to the gods that Coach wasn't going to make him join in. He begrudgingly pushed open the door. </p><p>Ugh, basketball.</p><p>There were eight or nine students spread out around the hall, positioned in some sort of training circuit, the coach watching from the side. They were bouncing and passing and dribbling basketballs all over the place, making a colossal racket.</p><p>No one seemed to notice Nico's entrance... that was, of course, until the famed Will Solace looked up from his catching exercise; when he met Nico's eyes, he grinned widely and raised a hand to wave, but he was promptly bonked in the head with a basketball and went tumbling to the floor.</p><p>Generally, Nico didn't laugh; he preferred to be more closed-off with his emotions, so laughing wasn't really his 'thing'. Nevertheless, he let out an involuntary scoff at the boy's utter idiocy.</p><p>"Di Angelo!"</p><p>For the second time today, the coach stormed up to Nico. Once again, the raven-haired boy tried to keep his cool. "Coach?"</p><p>Coach Hedge paused, looking him up and down, making Nico slightly uncomfortable. Then, he leaned in and whispered in a harsh voice. </p><p>"I wanna make this clear, Cupcake," he sneered. "The only way you'll be getting out of your<em> many</em> detentions is by doing what I tell you. If you refuse, you can kiss your, ah," he smirked and raised an eyebrow. "<em>Football practice </em>goodbye. Understood?"</p><p>Nico's blood ran cold and his words stuck in his mouth; he simply nodded.</p><p>The coach chuckled, straightened up, and turned to the basketball players doing their exercises.</p><p>"Alright, ladies," Coach shouted to the players. "Line up! Let's do the balloon shoot." There was a collective groan from the boys as they slumped their way over to the end of the hall.</p><p>Nico stood awkwardly, watching Coach Hedge unlock a set of ropes from the wall; as he pulled on them, a large red balloon descended down from the ceiling until it was around ten feet above the ground. There was another moan from the basketball team. Nico flicked his eyes over to where Will was sitting, his hands in his hair and a discouraged look on his face.</p><p>"You know the drill!" the coach barked. "Miss one, you drop and gimme twenty. We clear?"</p><p>"Yeah, Coach," they grumbled. </p><p>Nico still didn't understand what was happening, so he simply waited by the side of the hall as the boys approached the balloon one by one.</p><p>Grover Underwood was the first to go. He stepped back then, after a huge run-up, he jumped up high towards the hanging balloon, his arm outstretched. His fingers almost brushed it, before he fell back down with a thump. </p><p>"Missed!" Coach shouted. Grover groaned and ran to the back of the line, dropping to the floor and starting his push-ups reluctantly.</p><p>His confusion cleared as each guy surged forwards to try and hit the ball, his face slowly morphing into a smirk; this was hilarious.</p><p>The boys fell to the ground after every attempt, none of them jumping high enough to hit it. They each keened as they tumbled down, grumbling as they moved aside to do push-ups. Why they were doing this, he wasn't sure; probably something to do with dunking or shooting or something... it seemed a tad ridiculous in his mind.</p><p>Nico wanted to laugh at their poor attempts; seeing the likes of Percy Jackson and Jason Grace fail so miserably at something so easy was <em>marvellous</em>. They only had to jump up four or five metres and they were failing pathetically; the swinging ball wasn't <em>that </em>high off the ground... not for him anyway.</p><p>Dancing, especially ballet, relied on elevation; Nico could hit that ball easily.</p><p>He straightened up, grin growing, once he realised who was next in line; Golden Boy shook himself out as he stepped forwards. He took a few steps back, readying himself; Will heaved forwards and jumped as high as he could... and fell flat on his face.</p><p>The look on the blond's face was enough to make Nico splutter into a giggle. Will perked his head up in the direction of the sound, his face twisted into an annoyed simper. Once he noticed Nico was laughing at him, he stood up and offered a mocking curtsy, making Nico giggle again.</p><p>"Alright, hold it!" The booming voice stilled the boys, each of them panting from the exercise. Much to his disappointment, the Coach then turned on Nico; he suddenly remembered why he was there.</p><p>"So, di Angelo? Got anything to say?"</p><p>Nico quivered as the Coach advanced on him, trying to drop the smirk from his face. "No, sir."</p><p>The old man cracked his knuckles. "Really? Because I swore I saw you laughing at my boys." Nico blanched, not liking the look in Hedge's eyes. Judging by the snickers and laughs coming from the jocks, he was in trouble.</p><p>"What?" he sneered, taking another step closer. "You think they're funny? You think you can do better?"</p><p>His stomach dropped. He didn't <em>think </em>he could do better, he <em>knew </em>he could... but he wasn't about to tell that to the Coach, especially not when he was this enraged.</p><p>"No, sir."</p><p>"Bullshit," he barked in laughter; Nico stilled. "You and I both know you can hit that ball."</p><p>It was like the blood had been drained from his body. There was no way Hedge could know that... yes, Nico could easily jump higher than any of the basketball players, but there was no way Hedge could know...</p><p>From behind Hedge, Jason scoffed. "Di Angelo? You must be joking."</p><p>"Yeah, sir," Leo snickered. "This is <em>Nico di Angelo</em>... couldn't jump a foot off the ground to save his life."</p><p>Nico was still staring intently at the coach. "You don't know what you're talking about, sir," he warned.</p><p>Coach Hedge leaned in. "Oh, I think I do, Cupcake. You wanna play dumb, that's fine, but I know you can jump that easily."</p><p>As he desperately surfed his brain for how on Earth Coach managed to deduce this, Hedge turned and pointed towards the balloon.</p><p>"You watched them do it, now it's your turn."</p><p>He felt contempt spread through him. "What?" he hissed.</p><p>The Coach smiled wickedly at him. "Di Angelo," he crooned. "If you can hit that little red ball up there, I'll let you out of your detentions - all of them - and you won't see any trouble from me no longer."</p><p>There were cries of outrage from the boys as the cogs turned in Nico's brain. "That's not fair," someone shouted. "You can't let him off that easy!"</p><p>Percy Jackson's voice overpowered the crowd. "Guys, guys! Chill! It's not like the freak will actually reach it," he laughed. "It's fine."</p><p>Nico dropped his eyes. It most certainly was not fine; this was the only way he'd be getting out of his detentions. Doing this would mean he'd be able to keep on dancing after school... but he would rather eat his own foot than do a jump like that in front of the jocks. They'd never let him hear the end of it.</p><p>"Okay, fine," he whispered to the coach. "But... can't I do it, I don't know... later? Not," he gestured to the students. "Here."</p><p>The coach's grin spread wider and wider until he was laughing wickedly. "Of course," he mocked. "I couldn't possibly let you off without <em>any </em>sort of punishment. I'm sure that a healthy dose of embarrassment will teach you not to miss my lessons." His eyes glinted. "Unless you'd rather spend every day after school in detention for the next month or so..."</p><p>Nico was panicking now. He didn't know what to do. This was just some silly jumping exercise that he could clear in a heartbeat, but there was no way he was doing anything in front of the jocks. But... after school... he needed his dancing...</p><p>"Coach," a voice piped up from the group of students. Nico's eyes darted up to see Will pushing forwards, his face filled with worry. "Take it easy."</p><p>He felt a warm feeling spread through him as Will pleaded with the coach. It was nice to have someone defend him for a change... even if his defence was futile.</p><p>"Take a run-up," Coach Hedge hissed to Nico. "And hit that bloody ball. Got it, Cupcake?"</p><p>By now, Nico realised that there was no way out of it; he just had to get it over with and move on, facing whatever consequences came afterwards.</p><p>"Fine," he breathed, earning snickers of laughter from the jocks. "Fine..."</p><p>He threw his bag down on the floor and shrugged off his jacket. As he approached the ominous swinging balloon, he flickered through his head to find a jump that could carry him all the way up there without making him look ga... stupid. </p><p>Like the others had done before, he took a few steps back to give him the momentum he needed. The boys at the side were all laughing more and more, their cackles swirling and invading his brain. He ignored the stare he was getting for a certain blue-eyed wonder boy; Will Solace wasn't laughing... yet.</p><p>Nico stilled, readying himself; he'd done jumps like this a thousand times, but none had been so suffocating.</p><p><em> 'Just, get it over with,' </em>he thought to himself. <em>'Codardo.' </em></p><p>Anger surged through him. There was no use delaying it; he let out a breath and ran forwards. </p><p>He threw himself off the ground in a tremendous leap, spinning in a barrel roll and smacking the balloon, before catching himself from the fall in a graceful roll.</p><p>The laughing stopped; the only sounds were the squeaks from the ceiling as the ball swing back and forth.</p><p>Nico stood up from the floor, went to the side and picked up his stuff, then simply nodded to the coach, too angry to even speak.</p><p>It was only once he neared the doors that the boys seemed to snap out of their daze; he left the hall followed by calls and shouts of confusion.</p><p>He sulked the entire way home. Everything seemed to be crashing down around him.</p><p>Firstly, there was the question of the coach; had he seriously known? Nico knew there was no way Coach Hedge of all people could find out about his dancing, but he had seemed so certain. It was like he wanted Nico to prove himself, to show his secret; it wasn't an accident... he <em>knew</em>.</p><p>Secondly, there was the sickening feeling that grew like a hurricane in his chest. The jump he did was innocuous; it gave nothing away about his dancing... but it definitely showed his athletic ability. The jocks at school, the whole basketball team, they all saw and they'd want answers.</p><p>Then... then there was Will. Will Solace. Nico knew that if he fixed him with those blue eyes and asked him for the truth... he'd be fucked. There was something so off about the boy; he didn't think he could lie to his face if he asked him.</p><p>He'd just have to pray the ignorant blond would avoid the subject altogether. Perhaps the gods would be kind enough to allow that.</p><p>Hades wasn't home when he arrived, thankfully, but Nico didn't feel like eating; he raced straight upstairs and slammed his bedroom door shut as if to block out the world around him.</p><p>He couldn't say how long he lay there. He wanted to cry, but he'd learnt over the years that crying got you nowhere. He just felt empty... so empty. It was too painful.</p><p>Nico wondered what horrors would await him tomorrow; the whole school would know, naturally, that Nico was some sort of hidden athlete. They'd jokingly ask him if he thought he was cool, if he thought he was worth something. They'd take every inch of pride he held for his dancing and rip it to pieces.</p><p>Each thought that plummeted through his head was like a punch in the gut. After eleven years of secrecy, the slightest possibility of being exposed made him just want to disappear. He wanted the ground to swallow him up, the shadows to draw him away. </p><p>He wanted his head to stop. He wanted it to stop. Everything would be so much easier if...</p><p>His phone started to ring, snapping him out of his perpetual spiral.</p><p>He let it ring once, twice, then he carefully answered. He wasn't in the mood for answering; he felt sick as he opened his mouth to talk. The words felt sticky.</p><p>"Hello?"</p><p>"Howdy, sunshine..." came a melodious voice from the other end. "Are you okay?"</p><p>At the sound of his voice, Nico should've felt scared; he should've known Will would call to ask questions and poke fun and bother him...</p><p>But, instead, the mellow sounds of Will's deep southern drawl sent a blissful wave of calm and comfort over him. Idiot Golden Boy...</p><p>"What do you want, Solace?" he sighed, tears pricking at his eyes.</p><p>Nico could hear the solicitude leaking through the phone. "Coach was real nasty to you; you lit outta there with this look on your face... I was worried," he sighed. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."</p><p>He wanted to speak, to shout at Will and tell him to mind his own business, but when he opened his mouth, his voice sounded choked and cracked. He swallowed.</p><p>"Nico," Will spoke hesitantly. "It's okay; I'm here. I'm here..."</p><p>It was as though a dam broke inside him. He couldn't exactly remember what he said, but all that anger he'd been building up over the day suddenly poured out followed by streams of tears. </p><p>He yelled about Will's friends and how horrible they can be sometimes. He cried about being so, <em>so </em>damn lonely. He called out the coach for being such a horrible person; he knew that man just wanted to embarrass him. </p><p>Why did everyone do that? It seemed as though everyone was always out to get him. He'd gone seven years without a single friend and it was stifling.</p><p>"In fact," he sobbed into the phone. "You're the only person who's been at all nice to me this entire time. You're..."</p><p>He froze, realising what he was saying. He paused for Will to speak, but the boy only waited, listening.</p><p>"You're," Nico sniffled. "You're my only friend, Will. I, I'm... I'm sorry."</p><p>Gods, he hadn't cried like that in so long. He found it so hard to express his emotions to anyone, let alone Will... he probably hated him now.</p><p>He was going to hang up, tell Will that he didn't need him. He didn't want to be a burden, a clingy freak. His only friend? Why would Will ever want to be friends with someone like <em>him</em>?</p><p>"Don't be sorry, sunshine," he hushed. "You're right; I am your friend." Nico could hear him thinking. "And, truth be told, I'd much rather be your friend than anyone else's."</p><p>"But," he argued. "I'm just... I'm no one. You should just leave me as everyone else does." </p><p>"Trust me," he chuckled softly. "I ain't goin' nowhere. You're stuck with me. You're as much my friend as I am yours."</p><p>Nico didn't want to hear his words; he was still convinced the world would just be better without him. Will didn't deserve a friend like Nico.</p><p>"Hey," the blond prodded. "I'm right here. Okay?"</p><p>He sighed, eyes stinging.</p><p>"Yeah..." he whispered. "Okay."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Italian Translations:</p><p>Salto di Fede = Leap of Faith<br/>Codardo = Coward</p><p>~</p><p>I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!! Next chapter, we'll have a little more alone time between our two favourite honeybuns &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Avvoltoi</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Well... it's been a while. I am truly very, very sorry; I promise I will never EVER abandon this fic, it just took me so long to write this one chapter. My brain decided to give me a month's worth of executive disfunction and, for that, I apologise.</p><p>On a lighter note... yay! Update! This isn't my best work, but it'll do!! If you spot any spelling mistakes, PLEASE let me know (I sometimes miss them and I can't stand spelling errors!)</p><p>I'm preparing to go back to Uni in September, so writing might be a little slower than usual, but please don't fret: I will continue writing this fic until it is finished &lt;3</p><p>Thank you so much for reading! :D</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>If Will hadn't been there for him through the rest of the week, he... well, he didn't know what he would've done.</p><p>Walking in the day after the gym incident, he'd been followed eagerly by every pair of eyes in the school. Everyone was watching him, looks of curiosity, shock, ridicule, behind their snickering grins. Word travels fast here; suddenly, he wasn't so invisible.</p><p>The ground seemed to sway beneath his feet, the many eyes on him tearing away at his flesh and making him shiver with anxiety. </p><p>At first, few people dared to come up to him and actually <em>ask </em>about the supposed 'secret talent' they'd heard in the rumours, but that was soon to be short-lived.</p><p>He had rounded the corner in a hurry, desperate to get out of the hallway and away from the prying gazes; he didn't know what they were saying about him behind his back, but it was clear they'd be on him like hawks if he didn't get away quickly.</p><p>Unfortunately, in his haste, he almost crashed into someone as he turned through the hall. Looking up, he came face to face with Percy Jackson, accompanied by the rest of his posse. His stomach dropped.</p><p>"Well," he laughed wickedly. "If it isn't our favourite buddy!"</p><p>Nico tried to move around him, but Jason had closed in on his left, blocking his path. He gritted his teeth. "Out of my way, Jackson," he hissed.</p><p>"Now, now," Percy smirked. "There's no need to be like that."</p><p>"We just want to talk," Jason cut in. "You left so quickly yesterday, we didn't get a chance to, ah... catch up." His eyes glinted.</p><p>Percy laughed again. "So tell us," he purred. "How come <em>Nico di Angelo</em> -"</p><p>"Literal failure at everything," Leo added from behind them.</p><p>"- can somehow do something sporty for once, huh?"</p><p>Beckendorf manoeuvred round to Nico's right, placing a hand on the wall next to his head; he was cornered. "You saw all of us; we couldn't hit that ball."</p><p>"So, how come you could?" questioned Jason, taking a set forward.</p><p>They were all looking at him; encircled like this, Nico felt like a corpse surrounded by vultures, all itching to take a bite out of him.</p><p>"I... I don't..." he stammered, lost for words. </p><p>"Di Angelo has some hidden sport he plays!" barked Beckendorf, his chuckling booming and sinister.</p><p>"Wow really? Do you?" Leo snickered. "Please, tell us. Go on!"</p><p>Percy still had his green eyes locked on Nico. Once upon a time, that look had been friendly, welcoming, different... now, everything was cold and malicious beneath the viridescence. "What is it then, <em>freak</em>? I wanna know."</p><p>"Swimming?" asked Jason.</p><p>Leo scoffed. "Nah, it must be something like long-jump or pole vault if he can jump so high."</p><p>From next to Jason, Grover bleated out a laugh. "Gymnastics?"</p><p>"Ha!" snorted Percy. "That wouldn't surprise me! Trust di Angelo to do something so girly."</p><p>"Maybe you play basketball like us..." mused Jason, his harsh tone making Nico flinch. "Trying to be like the cool kids? Trying so hard to fit in?"</p><p>"So what is it then, di Angelo," Percy spat, shoving him up further against the wall. "What's this secret of yours?"</p><p>He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. His chest felt compressed like he couldn't breathe and the world started to spin. He didn't know what to do, he didn't know what to say... he had to get away. He had to -</p><p>"Hey!"</p><p>The next thing he knew, the tall jocks surrounding him were being pushed aside and a ray of blond hair swam into view. Will pushed through to get to Nico, shoving the others away.</p><p>"What the hell are y'all doin'?!" he yelled.</p><p>They looked confused and mildly annoyed. Jason coughed. "We were just asking -"</p><p>"Didn't I tell you to leave it alone?" he seethed at him. "You know what, I don't care. Come on, Nico," he grunted, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him out through the crowd. "Let's get you out of here."</p><p>And, just like that, everything was okay.</p><p>It was as though a superhero had swooped in and saved him from peril. As Will sat Nico down in their bathroom and explained to him what had happened after he'd left yesterday, the raven-haired boy was in a perpetual state of awe and gratitude. </p><p>Will had stood up to the jocks, to his friends, just to defend him. He could still remember the warm feeling that had bubbled up in his tummy as they sat there on the grubby bathroom floor.</p><p>The following few days blurred together into a fuzzy mess. For the most part, people lost their interest as quickly as it came; the eyes that marked him grew less intense, thankfully, but they never disappeared completely. </p><p>It was like he'd noticed on the first day: he was no longer invisible.</p><p>Percy, Jason and their goons, however, refused to back off. Will had begged Nico to let him give them a talking to, but he hadn't allowed it. He didn't want to make the situation worse and... and he really didn't want to get Will involved in stuff that could hurt him.</p><p>It wasn't that much different from any regular day; he just had to make sure to avoid the jocks where possible and, if he was cornered, just ignore their pressing questions as much as he could.</p><p>Thankfully, Will insisted on being Nico's shadow throughout the week, following him around everywhere he went, and the basketball team didn't target Nico as much when he was with him. It was like Golden Boy was a ward against all evil... which explains the happy attitude.</p><p>Speaking of Mr Perfect, he didn't ask about the incident at all. Clearly, he knew something was off about the whole ordeal, but Will refused to fall in with the other bullies in the school; much to Nico's relief, he kept his pretty mouth shut, instead allowing him a few moments of peace in his day.</p><p>He was lucky to have him, not that he liked the guy or anything. Will was still insufferably annoying, but at least he wasn't a douche like Nico had originally thought.</p><p>Of course, they weren't <em>besties</em>, not by a long shot, but he didn't mind being around him anymore. Will had the decency to give him space when needed and not pry, which is a courtesy not many people had ever shown him.</p><p>There was something different about Will Solace. He only hoped he could find -</p><p>"Neeks," Will sighed, snapping him out of his daze. "You need to focus."</p><p>He blinked a few times, bring his mind back to reality. </p><p>Oh yeah... Saturday; he was at Will's house. He was sitting on his bed, the blond in question next to him on the floor; Will had invited him to come over and work on their assignment, but Nico kept zoning out as usual.</p><p>He shook his head and glared at him. "Don't call me that," he muttered back. Will ignored him.</p><p>"We're never gonna get all this finished if you keep mopin' around like that," he giggled, lightly shoving Nico's leg from where he sat on the carpet.</p><p>He rolled his eyes. "I am not 'moping'," he grunted. "I'm just... thinking, that's all."</p><p>"Yeah, well," he snorted. "Can you think about the poems, maybe?"</p><p>Nico stuck out his tongue and crossed his legs on the bed. "Fine, whatever. <em>Gods</em>, you're annoying."</p><p>"So you've told me."</p><p>No matter how perfect he seemed to become, Will never failed to irritate the hell out of him, although it wasn't as bad as he'd been letting on. As it turns out, having a friend that drove you up the bloody wall is better than having no friend at all.</p><p>He scanned over the anthology. "Which one are we doing again?"</p><p>Will gave him an exasperated look. "Pygmalion's Bride," he reminded, clearly unimpressed.</p><p>"Right."</p><p>As they looked over the poem together, Nico grew more and more disgusted with the words on the page. </p><p>The story of Pygmalion, a sculptor who made himself a wife out of ivory, was one Grecian myth he'd never liked, just too simple and boring. Duffy, however, wrote the ivory bride as a living person, someone oppressed and suffocated by her creator.</p><p>He'd never been too invested in the feminist movement, nor the concerns of dramatic love affairs, but he was a decent enough human being to understand what a dick Pygmalion was in this poem.</p><p>"That bastard," he mumbled as he skimmed over the lines. <em>'He ran his clammy hands along my limbs'. </em>It made him feel somewhat nauseous.</p><p>"Yeah," Will scoffed. "Tell me about it."</p><p>Nico glanced up to look at him. The blond had his lip between his teeth and his eyebrows furrowed. It was the same look he'd give Nico when he argued against eating the sandwiches Will had brought him for lunch every day this week; he was visibly frustrated.</p><p>Will's bottom lip was always chewed up from this. It was kind of funny how he picked at the skin with his teeth, completely destroying the smooth surface. Nico had asked him time and time again to stop, reminding him that it'll scar if he keeps at it, but apparently, it wasn't a habit to be easily broken.</p><p>He sighed, pulling his eyes away from Golden Boy and his stupid addiction to look around the room again.</p><p>When he'd walked in, Nico actually had to stop in his tracks to take it all in. Here he was, entering maximum jock territory, the homeland of the enemy; he'd expected sports trophies and posters and jerseys and other annoying sporty stuff that would make Nico's nose turn up.</p><p>And, as always, Will continued to prove him wrong.</p><p>Will's room was painted white with one baby blue feature wall. Spread across his yellow bedsheets was a colourful, polka dot blanket that matched his curtains. There were posters, sure, but they were from films and TV shows, like Star Wars and Game of Thrones. The only sports-related thing he could see was the picture on Will's desk, a group photo of the basketball team.</p><p>Everything was so dainty, all simple and put together, he almost laughed; it was quaint, much unlike anything Nico had expected from such an annoying loser. </p><p>Once again, he reminded himself never to underestimate Will Solace.</p><p>Instead of reading through his anthology, Nico found himself fiddling with the tissue box on the bedside table, his mind drifting away from schoolwork.</p><p>He must've zoned out again because, when he blinked, the clock on the wall read two o'clock instead of half-past one; he only realised how long he'd been sitting there daydreaming when Will moved abruptly.</p><p>He stretched his arms above his head, his shirt riding up a little, and yawned. He picked himself up from the floor and flopped down on the bed next to Nico, making the smaller boy bounce on the springy mattress.</p><p>"I'm tired," he announced. "Let's take a break."</p><p>"Now, hang on," Nico grumbled. "Weren't <em>you</em> the one who said we were never going to get this done if we didn't -"</p><p>"Pah!" Will snorted, dismissing Nico with a wave of his hand. "Nonsense! What a preposterous accusation!"</p><p>The dark-haired boy rolled his eyes, suppressing a smile, and leant back on the headboard as Will was doing.</p><p>"Besides," Will grinned at him, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "It's not like you can talk; you weren't even working in the first place!"</p><p>"Now <em>you're </em>being preposterous..." Nico turned towards Will to tell him exactly where to shove it, but stopped abruptly.</p><p>They were sitting side by side now and, he recognised with a bit of a start, they were close enough that Nico could feel the body heat radiating off his skin. His bed wasn't all that big, so their legs were practically flushed together. When Will moved, their shoulders brushed.</p><p>"Uh, Will," he coughed, still frozen in place, suddenly very uncomfortable. It was no secret that Nico was inherently averse to physical contact; he only ever allowed himself closeness with another person when he was dancing because, for some reason, it held different energy in those situations.</p><p>This, however, was just too close for his liking. He could smell Will's toothpaste, his shampoo, his deodorant. It was a little overwhelming, to say the least.</p><p>He was just about to shift away, to put some space between them, when Will lifted his head, blinking at him, and Nico was met with those brilliant blue eyes that brought him to a halt.</p><p>"Yeah?" he hummed, tilting his head to the side.</p><p>Nico hadn't seen his eyes up close before; hidden within the sea of light, cerulean blue were flecks of gold, like sunlight through water. They seemed to hold such character, such soul.</p><p>Around his eyes, crawling from the bridge of his nose across his cheeks, were countless golden freckles. They seemed to dance around his face, creating little patterns and constellations. It reminded him of the night's sky on his walks home after dancing, the scattered stars.</p><p>"Nico?"</p><p>A pink flush rose to his cheeks as he shook himself from his thoughts, realising he'd been staring like a creep. He'd meant to tell Will to shove off, give him some personal space, not ogle at the way his startling eyes matched his sun-kissed skin. </p><p>He hated the closeness... but, suddenly, it didn't matter as much anymore.</p><p>"Nothing," he mumbled. "Just... thinking."</p><p>Will smirked. "You do that a lot, huh?" Nico dropped his eyes to his lap, ignoring how Will's tongue flicked between his teeth when he clucked. He shrugged.</p><p>"I guess."</p><p>They sat in silence for a moment. Nico didn't quite know what had come over him; he was never okay with being so close to someone, let alone... let alone a <em>boy</em>, and now he was completely fine with sharing a personal-space bubble with Mr Sunshine himself.</p><p>Just because Will has blue eyes... well, they're not blue, per se. More azure, like the sky, with those hints of gold. Just because he holds all that in his eyes doesn't mean... he... he didn't know what it meant.</p><p>It made him... angry. The kind of angry he hadn't felt in a while. The confused kind of angry, scared. The stuff that bubbles up in your chest instead of your blood. </p><p>The... the... the... <em>oh no</em>.</p><p>"A-cheww!"</p><p>He froze, hand clasped across his nose and mouth. Slowly, he looked up to the boy sitting next to him, where Will had a shit-eating grin spreading across his face.</p><p>"Oh -"</p><p>"No."</p><p>"My -"</p><p>"Will."</p><p>"<em>God</em>."</p><p>Nico groaned and dropped his head in his hands. It was all well-and-good keeping up this threatening, unfriendly look of his, but if there was one thing he could count on to ruin that... it was his sneeze.</p><p>"You sneeze like a fairy!" Will squealed gleefully.</p><p>He keened. "I do not! It's just -"</p><p>The blond jumped up and down on the bed, clapping his hands together. "Nico! That was so cute!"</p><p>He flinched at that. "I am <em>not </em>cute, Solace."</p><p>There was only a giggle in response. "You are!" he laughed. "Your sneeze is so <em>adorable</em>!"</p><p>"I am <em>not </em>adorable!"</p><p>"Aww," he tittered. "You're cute when you pout like that."</p><p>"Shut the fuck up, Solace. <em>Lo stupido</em>."</p><p>Will did as he asked, but Nico could see from his pleased expression that he wasn't going to let this slide. Fantastic.</p><p>Thankfully, Will actually did shut his trap and the two drifted into silence once more as they sat side by side. </p><p>Soon, the only sounds were the puffs of the other boy's breathing, his chest rising up and down. He seemed... agitated, the grin slowly dropping from his face.</p><p>"Nico," Will mumbled hesitantly. Nico hummed in response but kept his eyes down, instead looking at Will's hands. He noticed how he had started picking at his fingers; he did that when he was nervous.</p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>Will swallowed. "Well... you don't have to answer if you don't want to..."</p><p>He stiffened. What a stellar start to a sentence; obviously, whatever he was going to ask wasn't going to make Nico very happy.</p><p>"The other day, in the gym..."</p><p>Oh. </p><p>He almost cursed aloud. He'd been a fool to think Will wouldn't ask at some point. Yes, Will had been giving him space over the week; Nico had been lucky enough that the blond had respected his privacy thus far but... he kept forgetting that he was a curious jock just like the rest of them.</p><p>Although, strangely enough, he wasn't as hurt as he thought he would be. Sitting here, so close to someone... he felt an odd sense of trust. Will was his... his friend; he had every right to want to know.</p><p>Of course, that didn't mean Nico could ever tell him the truth. An 'odd sense of trust' wasn't enough to uproot all these years of hiding. He sighed, feeling weighed down from having to lie once again to his Golden Boy.</p><p>"You wanna know how I can jump so high?" </p><p>He nodded bashfully. Nico pursed his lips and scratched the back of his neck.</p><p>"I've done football since I was six; it makes your legs pretty strong. I just happen to have super good elevation, that's all."</p><p>"I get that," he hummed. "It's just... I can't help but wonder..."</p><p>"Anyway," Nico muttered, cutting him off. "I think break's over now; we really need to keep going with this, don't you think?"</p><p>Will obviously got the message that the conversation was over because he shut his mouth tight and nodded, reaching over the bedside to grab his book.</p><p>Nico shook his head.</p><p>He'd had more problems with his dancing secret in these two weeks with Will than he'd had over the past eleven years.</p><p>First, he'd asked about football, how he'd started playing. Will brought up strange terminology that Nico couldn't answer to: formations, positions, equipment. </p><p>He had to nod and dismiss his queries as they came to avoid digging a hole he couldn't fill.</p><p>Then, he'd started prying more into his life outside of school. Surely, Nico did something other than football and homework. Surely, he had some other interests. </p><p>Clearly, Will meant nothing by it; he was only being friendly, but he made a habit of sticking his nose where Nico really didn't want it.</p><p>It was the best he could do to lie and say he had no other hobbies, no passions in life.</p><p>Every time Will brought something up that could possibly link back to Nico's guilty pleasure, he felt a pang of guilt. He'd never had any problems lying to people before, but Will and the kindness he'd shown him... it was almost like betrayal.</p><p>For the first time in his whole life, Nico actually wanted to share his secret... slowly, the fear started to slither its way in like a serpent.</p><p>Will Solace, to say the least, was different and, realising the kind of things he was doing to his brain, Nico began to wonder if that was such a good thing.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Italian Translations:</p><p>Avvoltoi = Vultures<br/>Lo stupido = Idiot/nitwit<br/>~</p><p>I hope you liked this one!! Please let me know if you have any advice or suggestions :)</p><p>Thank you all for sticking around &lt;3 Your comments have been lovely and are motivating me to write more!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Vetro Frantumato</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>WARNING: this chapter gets a bit violent, so if that's not your jam, just stop reading once Will exits the chapter - please, don't risk reading this if you know physical abuse/violence could be a negative trigger for you xxx</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello, hello! Rather long chapter today, I hope you all like it! Please enjoy &lt;3</p><p>IMPORTANT NOTE: as there is a lot of Italian spoken in this chapter, I have written the ITALIAN sentences in BOLD TEXT. This signifies that they are speaking another language, not English!! Please let me know if you do/do not like this set-up! xx</p><p>If you spot any mistakes or spelling errors, please notify me! Also, if you have any suggestions or scenes you wanna see, I'd be happy to listen to them :D</p><p>Lastly, I am British, so please ignore any spelling differences! (Also, is American oatmeal the same as porridge? It's not relevant to the story, I'm just curious if the two are the same lmao)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Are you sure you have to leave so early?"</p><p>"Yeah," he sighed, hoisting himself off the bed. "My dad wasn't happy about me coming over; he let me on the account it was for schoolwork, but he said I had to be home by eight."</p><p>Will nodded, but stubbornly remained seated on the bed. Nico shook his head at the boy; Blondie appeared to be just as opposed to him leaving as he was.</p><p>He'd had the calmest, most comfortable day with Will and, now he had to go, he didn't want it to be over. Just last week, he'd prayed to the gods that Golden Boy would finally leave him alone, but, especially after everything that's gone on since then, Nico was now reluctant to leave his friend.</p><p>"You're so irritating," he mumbled, grabbing Will's hand to pull him up. It was large and warm compared to his own pale one, the heat spreading up his arm and into his face, tinting his cheeks red. He hated physical contact... but this was nice.</p><p>He dragged Will out of his room and down the stairs through his house. Will's house was a bit smaller than Nico's, but only by a little. Everything was neat and pristine, the epitome of the 'perfect family house'; Will had mentioned that he wasn't a fan of the organised look, but his parents were pedants when it came to upholding their image.</p><p>"Sorry you couldn't meet my folks," he apologised, rubbing his neck with his free hand. "They had to work today; their hours at the hospital can be unpredictable sometimes."</p><p>Nico smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "It's fine. They probably wouldn't like me anyway."</p><p>Abruptly, Will halted, their clasped hands holding Nico back with him. He turned to stare into his startling eyes, confused; he looked sad, eyebrows furrowed. "Of course they'd like you," he contended. "Why wouldn't they?"</p><p>"Oh," he gulped. "You know... I'm a bit, ah... strange."</p><p>He felt Will tighten his grip on his hand gently. "You're not strange," he whispered. "You're amazing."</p><p>"Me? Complete loner, antisocial, freak of the school, me?"</p><p>"Yeah, you."</p><p>At that, Nico snorted. "Right," he laughed. "Says 'Golden Boy'. People might think you were a gift from the gods if you got any more perfect; I'm nothing in comparison to his holiness."</p><p>Will chuckled at his comment, his face flushing just like Nico's. "Shut up," he grinned sheepishly.</p><p>There was a brief moment when they stood there, flashing small smiles at each other... before a lightbulb clicked on between them. The two boys froze, slowly letting their gaze drop to their hands, still held lightly around each other. </p><p>They jumped back quickly as though an electric current had passed through them. Nico blushed, scowling as he continued through the hallway towards the front door. He ignored the tingling feeling in his fingers.</p><p>"Anyway," Will coughed, eyes on the floor. "I'm sure they'd really like you. My parents are peculiar; they're quite closed off and, um... stuff like that, but they're still lovely people. You'd get along fine." He hummed, still a tad doubtful.</p><p>Nico's heart continued to hammer in his chest as they reached the front door, the unrelenting beating echoing throughout his head. Looking up, he could see the tips of Will's pointy ears had turned a delightful shade of pink; the corners of his mouth twitched up a little.</p><p>"Well, I..." he coughed. "I wish you didn't have to go. Because, you know... so much work still to do."</p><p>"Yeah... lots of work..."</p><p>"But we can always meet up again later," he beamed. Nico rolled his eyes but meekly smiled back.</p><p>Then, unexpectedly, Will held out his arms, offering Nico a hug. Instinctively, he flinched back, although he regretted the reaction; he dropped his head at the hurt, confused look on Will's face. "I... I don't like to be touched," he admitted. "Hugs are, well... it's too much. I don't like them."</p><p>"Oh," he mumbled. "That's okay. I'm just big on the hugging thing, so you're probably going to have to stop me in the future." He giggled, grinning down at the smaller boy.</p><p>Turning to open the door, Nico suddenly felt worry growing in his stomach. Would Will want him around in the future? They would only be working on this project for another week or so... after that, who knows what Will will do. He could easily dump him in the dirt, forget they ever talked. Today had been so nice; he didn't want to let -</p><p>"Hey," Will chided, snapping his attention back. "Don't do that."</p><p>"Don't do what?" he jeered back, folding his arms.</p><p>"Think like that; you had that look on your face where you're thinkin' about depressing stuff. It's annoying, knock it off," he huffed. Nico must've given him a less-intense glare than he meant to because Will's expression softened.</p><p>"Neeks... like I've told you before, I ain't goin' anywhere," he smiled. "Just because you're a grumpy old man who doesn't like hugs doesn't mean I'm goin' to run off the first chance I get. You're goin' to have to deal with me for a long time comin', okay?"</p><p>He scoffed. "Don't call me Neeks."</p><p>Will snickered. "My apologies." With that, he opened up the front door and Nico was hit with a waft of cold air. "You sure you don't want me to drive you home?"</p><p>"It's okay," he mumbled, shivering from the frosty weather. "I'll be fine."</p><p>He rolled his eyes, unimpressed. "Nico, you'll freeze. Besides, you live like an hour's walk away; it's 7:14, so if you want to make it home by eight, I'm gonna have to drive you. Come on."</p><p>Will drove an old, silver Ford Fiesta his parents had bought him for his seventeenth birthday that smelt oddly like blueberries and mothballs, but it was a lot nicer than having to walk in the freezing weather.</p><p>Strangely, he seemed to know the route to Nico's house pretty well, making him raise an eyebrow. "It's creepy you know where I live, Solace. You been stalking me?"</p><p>"No," he defended, squinting at the road. "I just know you live across the street from Kayla Knowles in the year below us; I used to be friends with her in the first month or so after I transferred here, so I've been to her house. Saw you walking home one time and she mentioned which house you lived at."</p><p>"Okay... so you're a bigger stalker than I thought."</p><p>"I didn't stalk you!" he exclaimed. Nico shook his head and giggled at the blush crawling across Will's face.</p><p>"You watched me walking home and found out exactly which house I lived at without ever having spoken to me..."</p><p>"But not in a creepy way!"</p><p>"You keep telling yourself that, Sunshine."</p><p>When they pulled onto his road, he suddenly stiffened. "Actually, could you drop me here?" he mumbled, pointing down the block from where his house was.</p><p>"Here?" he asked. "But your house is -"</p><p>"Just," Nico snapped. "I'd rather walk up."</p><p>Will still looked confused but obliged anyway. They pulled over to the side of the pavement so that Nico could hop out. He shut the door behind him and started to walk away when he stopped; letting out a reluctant sigh, he dipped down to peer through the car window.</p><p>"Thanks, Will," he muttered quietly. "For today... I mean, for getting me to work and stuff."</p><p>
  <em> For being my friend. </em>
</p><p>"That's okay," he grinned. "Anything for you... uh, text me, yeah?"</p><p>"Whatever. Get lost, loser."</p><p>Then he was gone, lost to the wintry fog. </p><p>As he left, it was as though he took a part of Nico's peace with him. Sure, he was Nico's friend - his only friend - and he wasn't as much of a dick as he'd once thought... but should it feel like this? Like all the warmth had suddenly gone from the world? Like the weight had returned to his shoulders and dark clouds began to form overhead?</p><p>It probably shouldn't feel like that, but it did nonetheless.</p><p>~</p><p>"Nico, <em>com'è stata la tua giornata</em>?"</p><p>He recoiled when he heard his father call to him from the living room as soon as he stepped through the front door. Swallowing his hesitation, he walked into the lounge, shuffling his feet along the carpet, to see Hades slumped down in one of the armchairs, drink in hand. </p><p>His father's eyes looked sunken, weary, and his beard was shaggy and untamed. The two looked somewhat similar to each other, both lacking the energy and motivation most humans had. He'd never be as thin as Nico, but they shared the same bony, skeletal frame.</p><p>"Uh, sorry?" Nico swallowed, blinking at his dad.</p><p>He gruffed and took a swig from his glass. "You need to pay more attention. <strong>I said 'how was your day?'.</strong>"</p><p>His day?</p><p>"<strong>My day was good... really good,</strong>" he told and, for the first time in a while, he said it with confidence; it felt odd not to lie. "<strong>We got a lot of schoolwork done. Very productive.</strong>"</p><p>Hades hummed, though he didn't look impressed. He was awfully hard to read sometimes, so Nico just stood there, waiting for him to speak. </p><p>The old man leant forwards in his chair and turned his beady, black eyes on his son. "<strong>You know what I think, young man,</strong>" he crooned, a strange tone behind his voice. There was another long pause before he swallowed and shook his head. "<strong>I think you should go to bed; it's late.</strong>"</p><p>He nodded, too smart to question the odd behaviour, and turned to hurry upstairs without another word. Once he was safely upstairs, he leant against the back of his closed bedroom door and let out a long sigh. </p><p>Busying himself, he dropped his stuff on the floor, ate a snack from his drawer, and changed into his PJs. Once Nico flung himself down on his bed, letting the soft sheets envelop him, he allowed himself one, tiny, pure giggle, just like he used to when he was younger.</p><p>It was unusual that he felt completely calm in his house, but there was something different about today. He was almost peaceful as he lay there, deep in thought, smile on his face.</p><p>His day was good. He laughed to himself at the astounding truth of that statement; he, an anti-social nobody, had spent his whole Saturday studying in the company of possibly the most <em>insufferable </em>person on the planet... and it'd been a really, really good day.</p><p>As per usual, the enigma that was Will Solace continued to astound him. He groaned and flopped his head back onto his pillow, thinking about his unlikely friend.</p><p>When he pictured his irritating, golden face, his head buzzed with interest. It was like electricity, his brain tingling from the energy. The way his messy hair shone like it was made of fucking sun rays was so annoying and bothersome it gave Nico heart palpitations. He could feel the strong <em>boom, boom, boom</em> pounding in his chest.</p><p>Everything about the boy was different, perfect. "<em>You'll warm up to me,</em>" he had said. At the time, Nico thought he was crazy; how could he stand to be around someone so intolerable?</p><p>Alas, as he bundled himself up in his blankets, he found himself... he found himself <em>missing </em>Will. Spending the day with him, working and talking and just existing together, seemed so natural. It made him feel warm, comfortable.</p><p>Usually, he only felt like that when he danced; moving gracefully to music was often the only way he could ever find contentment. To have that same comfort brought by a person... he hadn't felt like that since his mum died.</p><p>He hardly realised it, but he began to drift off into ample sleep, the memories of dancing and his mum and <em>Will </em>warding his mind of any rotten nightmares.</p><p>Nico frequently suffered from night terrors, but tonight was different; he dreamt of a grassy meadow woven with tall trees. The sky was bright blue, cerulean... it was beautiful. He felt warm.</p><p>He lay in the soft grass, his head resting in his mother's lap. <em>'Soldatino,'</em> she whispered to him. To his left, Bianca ran amok between the trees. To his right, Will sat there, his head blocking out the sun and turning his hair into strands of pure gold. </p><p>It was perfect, which is why he was foolish to think it could last; things in his life never stayed pleasant for long, the calm before the storm and all that.</p><p>He'd barely registered what was to come when the warmth of his dreams began to fade, the trees growing bare and the colour of the grass fading to grey as if his subconscious could sense the impending danger. He groaned in his sleep, suddenly very cold.</p><p>"<strong>Get up.</strong>"</p><p>He grunted at the voice, discomfort drawing through his arm; he was being shaken awake by a firm, cutting hand. "<strong>Get up,</strong>" his father barked, much louder this time, rousing Nico into distressed consciousness. </p><p>He blinked the sleep out of his eyes, vision clearing; Hades, his eyes red and wild, was looming over him, shaking his arm violently. Breath hitching, the drowsiness left him instantly and fear clogged in his throat. "<strong>I said 'get up'!</strong>"</p><p>His limbs felt loose as he was forcibly hauled from the bed. With everything moving so quickly, Nico didn't know what was happening, but that all-too-familiar sense of trepidation was crawling up his neck. "<strong>What's happening?</strong>" he asked, but received no reply.</p><p>As Hades di Angelo dragged him through the house by his arm, Nico tried to scramble to his feet. Getting up, he smacked his head on the wall beside him. "<strong>Ow... hey, let go! That hurts!</strong>"</p><p>Once again, his protests fell on deaf ears. The man holding him was void of care, his face twisted with wrath. He was no longer disorientated and confused; he knew exactly what was going on.</p><p>"<strong>Please... let me go, ah! You're, dad, you're hurting me! What are you -</strong>"</p><p>Suddenly, his father let him go, but, when he reached out his hands to catch his fall, he found he had nowhere to go. He fell down the wooden stairs, each <em>thump</em> sending sharp spikes of pain through his body as his skin bruised and split open.</p><p>He landed at the bottom with a groan. It was as though the air had been knocked from his lungs, his muscles spasming when he tried to move.</p><p>It hurt like hell when Hades lifted him off the floor by the scruff of his T-shirt and slammed him up against the wall, drawing a whimper from his lips. "You think this is funny?" he yelled in his face, spitting flecks of saliva. "Do you?!"</p><p>"No," he whined. "I don't know what -"</p><p>Those stabbing, black orbs scanned over his face, bloodshot. "Do you not feel any guilt?" Nico didn't have a clue what he was talking about, but it was clear he'd done something wrong to anger his father; he tried to think of all the things he had to be sorry for... his thoughts always went to the worst possible situation, but there's no way his dad could find out about - </p><p>"I've ruined my life for you and you do nothing!" he seethed, crashing him back into the wall over and over repeatedly. "You're a waste of space, a waste of my money... what do you do? What do you do for this family?"</p><p>His eyes watered as his head hit the brick behind him, making him dizzy. Through the haze, he tried to think about the things he was saying. It was true, Nico barely did anything to help support their lives; he didn't have a job, he didn't clean or help cook, it'd never been a problem before. Besides the pain and panic, Nico did feel guilt welling up inside him.</p><p>Unphased, he threw Nico down to the floor, crouching over him and pinning him down. "You're a failure in school, in <em>football</em>... you spend all your time sulking around as if your life is bad. You're so lucky," he sneered. "You have a wonderful life, the life I give you... how can you be so ungrateful?"</p><p>Nico cried and struggled beneath him. "Dad... I'm sorry..." He meant it. He deserved every lesson his father taught him.</p><p>"Sorry?" he laughed wickedly, climbing off his son. "You're not sorry. You're a disappointment to me... you'd be a disappointment to your mother if she were here." </p><p>As he stood himself back up again, Nico flinched at his words; he knew that was a lie, that his mum could never be disappointed in him, no matter how inadequate he became. His dad got angry a lot and he could deal with that... but things never ended well when he brought up Maria.</p><p>"But, thanks to you, she's not. When I think about it, I'm glad; she didn't get to see what a freak you've become. She'd hate you."</p><p>Seeing red, he pushed forwards. "You bastard! That's not true!"</p><p>Unthinkable pain struck him in the side of the face, blackening his sight as he fell to the ground a second time with a cry of pain. His cheek throbbed and his eye seemed just about ready to pop out of its socket.</p><p>"You dare talk to me like that? You miserable <em>child</em>! After everything I've done for you!"</p><p>Nico yelped as he kicked him hard in the stomach, making him double over. Like he'd done time and time before, he held out his hands to try and lessen the blows, protect himself, but, like usual, it scarcely did anything.</p><p>Again and again, kicks and punches came and it was all he could do to lie helplessly on the floor, whimpering pathetically in pain. Streaks of blood trickled from his mouth; his vision swam; he couldn't quite tell if he'd broken any bones, but he probably had if the searing hot pain under his skin was any indication.</p><p>With each hit, each stroke, Hades hissed at his son. "<strong>You're nothing! You're nothing!</strong>" he seethed, slipping back into Italian; such a beautiful language seemed wrong when used like this, to spout words of hate and regret.</p><p>Through the tears, Nico could see his father was crying as if he too was in excruciating pain. Hades clenched his fists in rage, suddenly backing away from the shaking boy. "<strong>Get up,</strong>" he spat, pacing in anger and refusing to meet Nico's eye.</p><p>He couldn't get up. He physically couldn't; his legs, arms, hands were shaking and the terrible pain was just too much to bear. He couldn't get up... but he did. Cowering away on the floor like this would only make things worse; he didn't need to give Hades another reason to hate him.</p><p>Slowly and painfully, he stood as best he could before his father. Sometimes, Nico liked to pretend in front of everyone that he was tough, threatening, like he could stand strong in a fight if he wanted to. </p><p>That wasn't true; he was terrified.</p><p>Hades, on the other hand, was much the contrary; he might have tears streaking his face, but it was anger behind those eyes, not fear. His bony hands were calculated and steady as they reached for Nico.</p><p>"<strong>Blood...</strong>" he muttered, gesturing to the thick, crimson fluid dribbling from his mouth and forehead, dripping down and staining the carpet beneath their feet. "<strong>You stupid boy... getting blood everywhere. Have you no respect?</strong>"</p><p>Nico choked down a sob, clutching himself around the middle as he tried to stop crying. Hades grabbed him by the face, using his fingers to forcefully scrub at the blood around his mouth. As he smeared the mess around, causing Nico to hiss from the stinging contact, he grew more and more enraged.</p><p>"Clean this up," he ordered but didn't let go of his grip. Nico just stared blankly; he tried to pull away from the grasp, but Hades held on tight. "For gods' sakes, clean this up."</p><p>"I..." he stammered, voice hoarse. "I don't -"</p><p>Yelling a roar of annoyance, his father once again began dragging him through the house, although it hurt a lot more now with his aching body. Nico fought and struggled, but he had him by the throat.</p><p>He pulled him into their bathroom; there was a little sink, toilet and bathtub squashed into the small room, a showerhead anchored to the wall. He forced Nico down so he was leaning over the side of the bath, twisting his back at an unnatural angle, and grabbed the shower off the wall. </p><p>Turning it on, he then propelled a jet of icy cold water directly onto Nico's face. "Clean. This. Up!" he growled.</p><p>Somehow, this was worse than the kicking he'd just endured; kicking he was used to, but this... he was sure he was drowning. He coughed and spluttered as the water gushed into his mouth, letting no air in for him to breathe. The cold stung at the cuts on his face, his bruises, and burned his eyes, blinding him. He was suffocating.</p><p>There was a reason water was so effective as a torture technique; all his senses were paralysed, rendering him helpless. "<strong>Please,</strong>" he tried to beg. "<strong>Stop... stop!</strong>" His words were distorted as he gargled through the water.</p><p>His dad, thankfully, dropped the showerhead into the bath with the water still running. Nico choked as he lifted him up by the neck of his shirt so they came eye to eye. He blinked the droplets out of his eyes, gasping, and met Hades' gaze.</p><p>"<strong>You better start proving your worth,</strong>" he warned. "<strong>Because I'm just about sick of having to deal with you. For the last time... clean this up</strong>"</p><p>He gave Nico a violent shove as he let go, making the fragile boy stumble backwards, his legs too tired to steady himself; he tried to find his footing, but slipped in the wetness and fell hard against the wall. </p><p>He smacked into the rock-hard tiles with a yelp; pain shot through his arms and wrists as he tried to break his fall, bones crunching from the impact. Collapsing into the bath, he cradled his aching limbs and whimpered, his breathing harsh and ragged.</p><p>In his fury, Hades showed no sign of remorse or regret; he simply looked down at the crying teenager with an odd mixture of disappointment and... <em>satisfaction</em> before turning abruptly to leave. Nico didn't want him to go; he didn't want to be left alone like this.</p><p>"Dad..." he whispered after him, voice broken and despondent.</p><p>The man paused, his breaths steady. Then, yelling in rage, Hades turned around, picked up the closest thing to him - a white, ceramic ornament from the bathroom shelf - and threw it at the tiles next to Nico's head. The ornament smashed into pieces, covering Nico in sharp shards that splintered into his skin.</p><p>His father huffed a final grumble of irritation and left the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. </p><p>Sat there in the cold bathtub, surrounded by darkness and shards of ceramic, clothes soaked with icy water, blood, his skin burning with bruises, limbs tired and aching... Nico didn't move.</p><p>He shivered as he stared at the dark around him. He didn't have the strength to lift a finger; though he was slumped down against the walls of the tub, the room swayed vigorously, so much so he thought he might be sick. Coughing, he swallowed down the taste of vomit and metal.</p><p>The little antique clock stood on the shelf read twelve o'clock, but he knew it was roughly two hours out. Sitting, fully clothed, in a wet bath at two in the morning was hardly his style; he needed to get up, to get out, get himself safely to his room... which was a lot easier said than done.</p><p>Bracing himself on his elbows, he pushed himself so he was sitting upright in the bath. "Ah!" he gasped, wincing in pain as his arms and neck spasmed. Tears falling down his face, he took a few raspy breaths as a readied himself.</p><p>He hesitantly pinched at his arms and wrists; everything was bruised, definitely sprained, but he didn't feel like it was broken. Chancing his luck, he balanced his weight on the injured limbs and heaved himself forwards and over the edge of the tub. He collapsed into a moaning ball on the bathroom floor.</p><p>As if he couldn't get more pathetic, Nico started to let out little cries, small sobs forcing their way through his throat. Everywhere hurt, much more than it usually did; he wasn't as restrained today. He almost caved in and fell asleep right there, listening to the distant trickle of water from the shower, but he had more self-respect than that.</p><p>His bones crunching, cracking, he dragged himself to his feet slowly and steadily, using the counter for balance. His legs shook violently as he tried to hold himself up, leaning over the sink. Relinquishing all hope, he glanced up to stare at himself the large mirror hung on the wall.</p><p>Through the darkness, Nico could just about make out the awful reflection staring back at him; you could hardly see his eyes they were so sunken down into his skull, black and unresponsive. </p><p>His face was bloodied, tear-stained, purple already blossoming over his skin. He pulled up his shirt, hissing as he revealed the frightful wounds and blemishes formed amongst his old scars. Nico ignored how easily he could see his ribs and, although he had rather defined muscles, his torso seemed to cave in on itself in hollowness; the combination looked wrong, distorted, sickening.</p><p>Standing there, he'd never hated himself more; not only was he a disappointment to his father, a failure in school, a nobody, a<em> freak</em>... but the foul core he lived with every day had seeped out, showing itself on his skin. He was ugly both inside and out. </p><p>He was gaunt, gruesome, like some sort of freakish monster, reflecting the twisted feeling that never left his gut. He clenched his throbbing jaw, disgusted by himself.</p><p>He didn't want to live like this. He <em>couldn't </em>live like this anymore.</p><p>He wanted out... he wanted out.</p><p>There was no doubt about it: Nico di Angelo was, well and truly, broken and he resented himself for it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Italian Translations:</p><p>Vetro Frantumato = Shattered Glass<br/>Com'é stata la tua giornata? = How was your day?</p><p>REMINDER: the bold text in this chapter signified Italian sentences. When I use this technique in the future, non-Italian speakers will not be able to understand the sentences written in bold text.</p><p>~</p><p>I hope you enjoyed reading!! I'm very excited to get the rest out to you all, but I'm preparing to go off to university in a few weeks, so forgive me if I slack off a little with my upload times! &lt;3</p><p>You're all amazing and mean so much to me!! Thank you so much for tuning in, I'll see you in the next chapter xxx</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Ombra</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello, hello! Guys... I'm officially a university student! What is this ahhhh, it's so stressful, but exciting at the same time; hopefully I can remain sane for at least another month or two, but if I randomly disappear, the pressure of being an adult killed me XD</p><p>New chapter! Little note with this... originally, this was a 12,000 word chapter... I know, it's ridiculous! However, I have managed to split it into three parts, so if this one feels like it cuts off in a weird place, that's why :D</p><p>I hope you enjoy! Please let me know if you find any mistakes (I use British spellings btw) and I'll see you all when I next update. Thanks for reading! &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Despite the incredible exhaustion coursing through his body, Nico didn't sleep. He couldn't.</p><p>He curled himself up on his bed, shivering; he'd managed to change gingerly out of his soaking, wet clothes, but the cold still clung to him like fog. It took him a while to find a side to lie down on that didn't cause him extreme pain but, eventually, he settled back down on his mattress.</p><p>The best he could do was lay there in fearful silence; sleeping was out of the question, too much risk in that, and his thoughts were so clouded and disorganised, it was like nothing made sense anymore.</p><p>When bright sunrays finally broke through the gaps in the curtains after his long, sleepless night, it came as both a blessing and a curse.</p><p>For one, he didn't have to sit there by himself any longer; he couldn't stand it, couldn't take the quiet, the waiting, the pain. He could wake up properly, check to see how bad the injuries were beneath his pyjamas. He thought, perhaps, he might need to go to the hospital this time, what with the unbearable burning in his bones.</p><p>On the other hand, waking up meant that he had to face the truth: he might<em> actually </em>need to go to hospital. Nico's father would not be pleased if that was the case. </p><p>The only time Hades had ever deemed his condition 'serious enough' to go to hospital was when he'd pushed Nico down against a radiator and cracked his head open so badly, he had almost bled to death. A few bruises here and there were nothing in his eyes; there was scarcely any point asking... he'd just say no. </p><p>Morning meant he would have to leave his bedroom, face his dad. How could he bear to look at that man after everything that happened last night, after he told Nico what he really thought of him? He didn't know whether to feel offended or... or just plain guilty.</p><p>He groaned as he tried to move, limbs sore and stiff. </p><p>There was no use delaying the inevitable; he winced as he rolled gently out of bed, bones popping and creaking as he went, to make his way slowly downstairs.</p><p>Hades was already waiting for him, looking as though he'd slept just as much as Nico; deep, purple bags hung under his eyes and his thin hair stuck to his forehead, greasy and straggly. The small boy limped into the kitchen where his dad was hovering by the fridge, beady eyes following his steps.</p><p>Taciturnity hanging grimly in the air, Nico stilled to lean against a countertop, giving Hades a chance to examine him. He hadn't dared to look in the mirror this morning, but he could imagine the mess his father was looking at; his focus scanned across the black bruises and harsh cuts, the welts and wounds and blisters, fingers twitching with bitter resentment.</p><p>The old man tore his gaze away with a hiss. "Damn," he whispered, running his hands through his hair. Nico just stood there in his PJs, arms hugged around his middle, looking down at his feet.</p><p>Hades sighed as he sauntered forwards and placed his hands either side of Nico's cheeks, tilting his head up so the two made eye contact; the animosity radiating off him made his bottom lip quiver. </p><p>"I am so sorry, <em>giovanotto</em>," he said and, despite his body language, his tone was sincere. Nico winced as his thumb brushed over a sore spot under his eye.</p><p>He gulped thickly, surprised by Hades' care. "It's..." he choked. "It's okay, dad. I -"</p><p>"You can understand my concern, right?" the man chuckled bluntly, trailing his hands down from Nico's face to grasp tightly at his shoulders. "You can understand why I am so disappointed in you right now; you can understand why I got mad. I know you can."</p><p>Through all of this, Hades often forgot that Nico wasn't a child anymore; he wasn't stupid and he knew perfectly well that there was no excuse for the kind of violence he'd shown him... nevertheless, he found himself shaking with tremors of guilt.</p><p>"I love you so much," he insisted, suddenly pulling Nico into a very rigid and rather unsought hug; he could smell the sweat soaking his dirty clothes and the foul fumes that still lingered on his breath. "I'm just worried that you're not trying hard enough; you're going to waste your life away."</p><p>At his words, Nico crumbled under the weight of the touch. His father <em>did </em>love him, no matter how often he doubted it; it was hard for any dad not to love their son, especially when they're the only family they have left. It's just... his dad didn't know how to handle being worried for him. He only wanted the best for Nico... he simply showed it in the wrong way.</p><p>"Yeah... I know," he mumbled against his chest.</p><p>Hades let go of the boy to once again stare intensely into his eyes. "Well," he scoffed. "If <em>you know</em>, why aren't you doing something about it? You never do anything around the house, you don't try hard in school... I don't think I've ever heard you mention a football scholarship, even though it's the best way to get a ride into college! Can't you see what a waste that is?"</p><p>He lowered his eyes, picking at his fingers. "I can."</p><p>"Good. Maybe seeing things clearly for once will encourage you to get your act together, <em>giovanotto</em>. I only want what's best for you."</p><p>
  <em> He only wants what's best... </em>
</p><p>Nico smiled weakly. "I know you do, dad," he nodded. "Thank you."</p><p>Returning the half-hearted smile, Hades patted him stiffly on the back, an unspoken 'you're welcome' hanging in the air, before striding out of the kitchen. Nico heard the jangle of keys behind him, the slam and click of the door lock, then the low rumble of a car engine.</p><p>Only once the noise drifted away, violent calm settling over the house, did Nico's knees buckle. He collapsed to the floor in a heap, lacking the energy to pull himself up, already shaking and cold from the adrenaline rush. He let out a soft, sad moan.</p><p>Alone on the hard, stone kitchen floor, Nico hid his face in his hands and, pathetically, began to cry.</p><p>~</p><p>The weekends were often unkind to Nico; his dad seemed to lose his self-restraint a little more when he didn't have work to distract him. </p><p>He'd spent many a Monday morning painting his face with various skin-toned products, limping through the school halls, gritting through the pain. In most cases, he could manage himself; Mondays were often hard, but never impossible.</p><p>Of course, this was before he'd acquired his own personal shadow to make life that little bit more unbearable.</p><p>"Hey... are you sure you're okay?" the blond boy asked again as they walked through the halls to religious studies. </p><p>Nico huffed. Will had spent the entire day bouncing off the walls like he was hyped on Redbull; the guy was clearly happy about something, but, frankly, he didn't care what. </p><p>He did, however, care about the fact that, when Will wasn't grinning like a loon, he was all up on Nico's case, constantly pestering him about his mood. "Yeah, I'm fine, Solace," he spat harshly. "That's the fifth time you've asked that today. Knock it off."</p><p>Will pouted, crossing his arms. "It's just, you've been acting strange all day." Nico rolled his eyes bitterly despite the warm tug he suddenly felt in his tummy; trust Will to always see when something's bothering him. </p><p>In truth... he<em> was</em> finding today harder than expected. </p><p>First, there was the whole deal with going to school with a mangled body; he could hardly focus on anything, his mind hazy and blurred. He was a mess in his classes, unable to think straight, and he couldn't shake the aching reminder of his dad's disappointment that lay clear on his skin.</p><p>Secondly, after limping all the way to school, ankles screaming at him to rest and limbs barely functional, Nico had reluctantly accepted the grievous fact that he just could not go to dancing today... not like this. </p><p>The realisation had struck him like a ton of bricks; it was heartbreaking and he, in all his stubbornness, was half-tempted to suck it up and go to dancing anyway, although he knew he'd only make it worse for himself if he went. </p><p>In all honesty, the thought that today was doomed to be miserable, as all dance-less days were, was hurting him more than the crippled bones.</p><p>He hummed dismally. It was a Monday; he would've had tap dance after school. Oh, how Nico loved to tap, that quick, extraordinary art to keep your feet moving endlessly. The precision, the rhythms, the confidence it brought him... tap never failed to make Nico feel better about himself; he always left with a grin on his face.</p><p>Knowing he'd never make it through the warm-up in his condition made his heart sink down to his stomach; he had no other choice but to miss today's lesson... and he was furious about it. </p><p>He'd been in that cynical state all day; Nico had sulked his way through history and maths, face like thunder, angry that once again his only enjoyment in life had been ripped from him. He didn't have time for Will's <em>pressing concern</em>; he just wasn't in the mood.</p><p>"Thought you said I wasn't strange," he smirked impolitely, brushing off Will's trying interest.</p><p>He sighed. "You're <em>not</em>, that's the point; that's why I'm worried." </p><p>The blond made a deal of crossing his arms defensively and throwing Nico a pointed stare. Realising the idiot wasn't going to let this go, much to his disdain, he forced a smirk and rolled his eyes.</p><p>"Don't worry about me, you dork," Nico jeered tepidly, still confused as to why someone like Will would care so much.</p><p>"Sorry... I can't help it," he smiled, twiddling with the ends of his shirt sleeves. "Although, I'd be less inclined to worry if you didn't shut me out all the time."</p><p>He grunted in annoyance as they rounded the corner leading to their RS classroom. "Yeah, well, don't take it personally; I do that with everyone. It's just... easier."</p><p>"It doesn't have to be like that," he mumbled. "You know I'll always be here for you, right? I'm never going to leave you."</p><p>"Shut up, Solace," he mocked, ears involuntarily turning pink. "You're such a creep." He looked over to see Will beaming and shook his head, bumping their shoulders together lightly. "Believe me, I'm getting rid of you the first chance I get."</p><p>"Sure thing, Sunshine."</p><p>And, for a moment, the pain subsided and Nico could almost pretend things were normal. Almost.</p><p>~</p><p>Their RS lesson started out okay in the grand scheme of things.</p><p>Last week, they'd had a change of seating plan and Will, in all his relentless, bothersome, <em>Golden </em>glory, had decided he wanted to sit next to Nico. Apparently, it hadn't been up for debate as Nico now found himself sitting in the back row, sharing a desk with said intolerable melt.</p><p>He didn't care to pay attention as Ms Hera began her spiel on Christian morals, already bored by the topic, unlike Will who quickly scribbled down as much as he could; at least he now had someone to copy notes of off should he ever need them.</p><p>"Hey," Will whispered partway into the lesson, nudging Nico's leg with his foot. "Can you at least do <em>some </em>work?"</p><p>He gestured to the worksheets on the desk. Flustered, Nico scowled at him, trying not to blush as Will's foot lingered against his under the table, and curled his lip at the dull classwork. </p><p>"Fine, whatever," he muttered back, pulling a sheet towards him, ears pink. He ignored how Will's eyes glinted with satisfaction. Satisfaction and... glee.</p><p>It was around that point when things started to go wrong.</p><p>First came the unsettling weight in his stomach. It came just after Will had given him that look of amusement, humour reserved only for Nico; a sort of thick, dark mass began brewing up in his tummy. </p><p>He'd felt this before; it was a lot like the pressure in his chest that he got on low, rainy days, the same heavy feeling that so often washed over him.</p><p>He didn't know quite how to place it. The way Will make him feel... not <em>nice, </em>but wanted... for some reason, this weight in his gut told him it was... this was... <em>wrong</em>. As he swallowed, throat suddenly dry, his thoughts started to scatter.</p><p>Not long after that, the weariness caught up with him; for lack of a sound distraction, he started focusing on the perpetual ache that shivered throughout his bones, the throbbing of the bruises that coated his skin.</p><p>As Ms Hera happily blathered on about a<em> marvellous </em>and <em>very interesting </em>project on 'heathens against God' that they would be doing next week, Nico's back started to crack and crunch, sending burning sparks and jolts up his spine; he rubbed sorely against his shoulders.</p><p>When he'd bent against the bathtub that Saturday night, he had pulled something in his back that was now causing him tenacious pain. The aches in his bones and body spread from the small of his back, out past his legs and chest, travelling all the way up to his neck. </p><p>Sitting at a compact desk all day certainly wasn't doing him any favours. He winced as he shifted in his seat, pinching yet another nerve. Will raised an eyebrow, tentatively reaching a hand across the table, but he waved him off; he didn't need any more of Will's bothering, especially when he was concentrating on not passing out from the hurt.</p><p>To distract himself, Nico knew he should've thought of his father; focusing on<em> why</em> he deserved to sit through the pain would have been enough to get him through the rest of this class. Instead... instead, he let his mind wander past the guilt and towards his happy place, just like he normally did on difficult days. </p><p>Closing his eyes, rubbing at the bridge of his nose, he let his spirit unwind and began to choreograph a dance routine in his mind.</p><p><em> Scuffle, ball-change, kick, rest... spring shuffle, toe-hop. Repeat - </em>repeat<em> - to the left, to the right. Centre triple time-step, wing preparation, spins, pick-ups, digs... </em></p><p>In his head, he was surrounded by lights and mirrors, feet echoing clearly against the wooden floor as he tapped. The dance was upbeat, full of life, and carried him across the studio; he focused on making it happy, shaping his imaginary movements to tell the most uplifting of stories.</p><p>In tap, you speak with your body. Each click and tap and scuff and stamp has to perfectly correspond with the music; the two work together as a conversation.</p><p>To feel the rhythm, to move with freedom, was like a breath of fresh energy for someone as thin and tired as he. With another twist, a four-beat cramp roll, and an expertly timed ripple, the whisper of music in his head drifted away and the dance was finished.</p><p>Had he been there, in the dance studio with those lights and mirrors and movements, he'd be panting for air. Tapping took so much power that Nico often found himself dizzy from the lack of oxygen in his brain; he loved the feeling, the lightheadedness it gave him.</p><p>Had he been there, clacking around in his tap shoes, he would've been able to feel the adrenaline pumping through him, all aches and pains abandoned, forgotten, replaced by pure excitement. He'd have that buzz, that thrill, that delight.</p><p>Had he been there, dancing in the flesh instead of dreaming it all up in his mind, he'd feel content. He'd feel special. He'd feel <em>golden</em>.</p><p>Nico's eyes drifted to the boy sitting beside him; Will had his pen between his teeth, focused entirely on the work before him. <em>Golden Boy</em>. He thought, perhaps, that the guy's exhausting, happy energy was a lot like the enjoyment he felt whilst dancing.</p><p>He wondered what gave him that long-lasting joy; it was hard for him to imagine the feeling coming from anything other than dance. Ballet, tap, street... it would be enough to give anyone a thrill.</p><p>So then... maybe... ha! Maybe Will would feel <em>extra golden</em> if he ever got the chance to gambol around the dance studio. Maybe his hair would start glowing, unable to contain all that happiness.</p><p>Nico laughed inwardly at the thought of Will trying to dance; the big lump would probably fall flat on his face! Dancing takes skill, grace, composure, everything Will unquestionably did not have. Nico would wipe the floor with him... at the small expense of exposing his biggest secret and everything he'd worked hard to conceal his entire life. He swallowed hard.</p><p>Stupidly, he chanced to think what Will would say if he ever saw him dance; Nico's thoughts turned astringent once again, the pain in his body quickly returning. Choreographing as a distraction was effective while it lasted, but there was no hiding from the fact that, just like his body, everything broke eventually.</p><p>When the bell finally rang, signalling the end of third period, he sent a silent prayer to the heavens. He was surprisingly quick to haul himself out of his chair and start off towards his next lesson, popping his stiff bones; he wasn't really in the mood for Spanish, but anything was better than Ms Hera's droning lectures on 'how Jesus can save you'.</p><p>Nico quickly limped off down the hall to his Spanish classroom without a second glance at the blond boy he'd left behind. </p><p>It felt strange; he'd grown used to hanging around after class, waiting to say goodbye to Will as they went to their separate lessons. Normally, it was nice, a small breath of peace before the next tiresome subject, but today was different; the stupid git always seemed to know when Nico wasn't feeling too great, always looking out for him, and he didn't need that kind of pitiful sympathy right now.</p><p>He was just beginning to think he'd made it out of there without risk of any further pestering when he heard a call behind him.</p><p>"Hey, Mr Grumpy Face," Will giggled, bounding up to him like a puppy. He reached out a hand to prod at Nico's frowning face, but he swatted it away with a sneer.</p><p>"Fuck off," he grumbled, trying to overlook the cute little simper Will gave in response to his grouchy mood. "Don't you have French? You're going in the wrong direction, dumbass."</p><p>Will ignored him, cocking his head at Nico. "Were you okay in RS? Your back seems sore."</p><p>"It's fine," he snapped. This was exactly what he'd been hoping to avoid; Will never knew when to shut up. "I just wanna get to my lesson." </p><p>He quickly picked up the pace of his limping, anxious to get away. "Hey... Nico..." Will said with a tone of confusion, but he didn't slow down. He ploughed his way through the remaining groups of students. </p><p>"Neeks, stop... wait up!" he called, reaching out to grab his shoulder and pull him back. Unfortunately, Will had managed to grasp a particularly sensitive spot on his arm; Nico gasped in pain as they halted in the corridor.</p><p>"Oh, god," Will startled, worry instantly befalling his pretty face. "I'm so sorry! I didn't realise... why didn't you tell me you were hurt?"</p><p>Nico clenched his jaw, shrugging off the spikes of pain. "I'm fine. It's none of your business anyway," he growled, glaring at Will. "Besides, I already said that French is in the <em>opposite</em> direction to Spanish, so you should get going or you'll be late."</p><p>Without waiting for a response, Nico turned to hurry away to his class; he hated that look, the pity, the concern, especially when it came from someone who was usually so... so <em> sunny </em>.</p><p>"Please don't shut me out," pleaded a little voice from behind him. "I just wanna help you..."</p><p>He grimaced. He didn't doubt that Will was genuine; he wasn't like everyone else. The sad thing was, even if he wanted to help, he knew he<em> couldn't</em>. This wasn't his problem to deal with. He hated himself for it, but it was just easier to push his friend away.</p><p>"Look," Nico hissed, stopping in his tracks. The hall was empty now, just the two of them alone. "I just... I'm really tired. I'd appreciate it if you could lay off my back for once. I'm fine."</p><p>He heard soft footsteps echo across the quiet corridor, but he didn't lift his gaze. "I'm fine."</p><p>Even without looking, he could tell Will was hesitant to believe him, the taller boy dropping his arms to his sides with a sad hum. Those pools of blue seemed to cave into him, seeing all the way past his pitiful facade.</p><p>Carefully, Will risked one small step closer as if Nico was some animal he didn't want to scare away; lifting a wary hand, he brought his fingers up to his face. Nico flinched as he lightly pressed two warm fingers under his chin, but didn't pull away. </p><p>They were terribly close; he could count the freckles dancing over those sun-kissed cheeks. Will delicately tilted his head up, bringing their eyes together, and scanned his face darkly. </p><p>They held that eye-contact for a moment - hesitant, dreadfully genuine - and Nico considered running, turning tail and fleeing down the corridor... but he didn't.</p><p>"Neeks," he sighed quietly. "You're... make-up. You're wearing..."</p><p>"Shut up, Solace," Nico quarrelled, but his voice came out faint and dull, not nearly as harsh as he wanted it. He needed to get away; he just wanted Will to leave him alone. "It's none of your business."</p><p>"No, Nico," he contended, squeezing his fingers softly against his cheek. "I just... I don't like to think of anyone hurting you. I wish you'd let me talk to them, get them to stop."</p><p>"I said," Nico swallowed, blinking up to look directly into Will's perfectly blue eyes. "Leave. It. Alone." </p><p>They were standing impossibly close now; Nico could feel the heat of his skin, smell the mint on his breath. He was angry, angry that Will had been invasive beyond his rights, so he almost didn't catch the comforting thumb that brushed over his face, catching the corner of his mouth... </p><p>They both jumped as the bell rang through the hall. "Great," Nico jeered. "Now we're both late. Go to your fucking lesson, Solace."</p><p>This time, he didn't stop as he stormed off, blush slowly crawling up his neck beneath the make-up. By the time the first few tears fell from his eyes, he was around the corner and safely out of Will's sight.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Italian Translations:</p><p>Ombra = Shadow<br/>Giovanotto = Young Man</p><p>~</p><p>I hope you all enjoyed! Thank you for being so patient with my upload times; I know I'm not very good at the moment, but I'll try and be better in the future &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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